


While lies hold us hostage, the truth sets us free

by Auddieliz09, xTarmanderx



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon-Typical Violence, First Kiss, Fix-It, M/M, Pining, Slow Burn, Torture, season 5a rewrite
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:08:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 56,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27592502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Auddieliz09/pseuds/Auddieliz09, https://archiveofourown.org/users/xTarmanderx/pseuds/xTarmanderx
Summary: When Liam overhears a damning conversation between Theo and the Dread Doctors, the chimera is forced to make a choice.
Relationships: Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken
Comments: 51
Kudos: 124
Collections: Thiam Big Bang 2020 Collection





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Autumn and I have held this idea for ages and it's finally time to set it free! Thanks to anyone who supported us in this endeavor! <3
> 
> Submitted for the ThiamBigBang2020 and for our own prompt: what if Theo told the truth?
> 
> Art can be found here (we each made pieces for this story): https://imjustafangirl-nobodylovesme.tumblr.com/post/634965251359686656/while-lies-hold-us-hostage-the-truth-sets-us-free

He isn’t able to wash all the blood off. Not that it matters to them, but Theo has a reputation to uphold. He gives up after trying to scrub it from his sweater and sighs. The lights above him start to hum and he can feel the electric current pulsing through his teeth. Great. Just what this catastrophe of an evening needed. Checking his reflection one last time, Theo exits the bathroom and makes his way out of the hospital. 

They’re waiting for him behind the dumpsters. There’s not a human soul in sight, though Theo knows they aren’t alone. He can feel eyes watching him, the same ones that have been peering through his bedroom window when he pretends to be sleeping. They’ve followed him for days now and he knows exactly who they belong to. Subtly shaking his head, he folds his arms over his chest and addresses the three standing before him. 

“Getting sloppy. You were seen tonight.” He says tightly. Clicks and whirs answer him and he waits impatiently, grinding his teeth as they communicate amongst themselves. 

_ “Inconsequential. Failure.”  _ One says at last. Theo snorts and shakes his head. 

“Don’t you get it? They’re going to blow your entire plan open if you keep this up. How am I supposed to operate if you’re out there doing reckless shit like getting caught?” His temper flares up and they regard him coldly. His neck hairs bristle and before he can blink, there’s the end of a cane pressing against his Adam’s apple.

_ “Find the next one for us. Do your part and worry not what we do in the shadows.”  _ The second tells him. Gritting his teeth, Theo presses his lips together firmly and nods. The pressure leaves his throat and he fights the urge to rub at it in relief. 

“Are there any others like Tracy that I need to know about?” Theo asks. He’s rewarded with another indecipherable look and a series of hissing steam and crackles of static. “If the pack gets attacked again, I need to know what I’m up against.”

_ “You need to know nothing.”  _ He’s reminded of just how little he actually matters in the grand scheme of things. Not that he gives a damn. He might not be useful to them for much longer, but he’s got a history of survival behind him. He can run to the end of his days and live a comfortable life. After all, he’s seen all of their tricks. 

“Whatever. Just try not to get caught again.” He snarks at them. They flicker and disappear from existence. Theo can almost detect their scent, the death and decay that feels like it clings to their suits, but it’s a figment of his imagination. They’ve never been detectable beyond their radio waves and electromagnetic frequencies and other things he doesn’t understand. When the buzzing has left his head and he feels that he can relax, he turns his head. 

“You can come out now, little wolf.” He calls out. As he turns on his heel, the blue-eyed beta steps out with eyes that now burn like molten gold. “You should know better than to follow people around, Liam. You never know what you’re going to run into.” His claws itch beneath the surface of his skin, but he doesn’t pull them out. He waits for the beta to speak, watching as he steps under the overhead streetlight. Liam’s face is full of anger, shadows cast over his scowl as his head bows down to his chest. 

“Those were the men Malia saw?” He asks around a mouthful of fangs. “They killed Tracy!  _ Murdered  _ her.” He snarls. 

“She was dying anyways.” It’s a poor choice of words and Theo knows it. Still, there’s a thrill that shoots up his spine as Liam roars and throws him back against the nearest dumpster. 

“You’re working with them? Why?” He demands, claws sinking into Theo’s shoulders and pinning him there. He could break the hold if he wanted to, but he doesn’t bother trying. If he spends a few extra minutes trying to memorize the beta’s pretty features, then so be it. He won’t be around for much longer. With Theo’s position now compromised, Liam’s expendable. It’s unfortunate, really. The beta with anger issues has kind of been growing on him. 

“Reasons beyond your wildest imagination.” Theo answers. Liam’s reply is another twisted snarl, his body pressing insistently into Theo’s. As if he could shake him down for answers. Theo’s been through worse and learned not to blink an eye. If he broke now, he’d certainly be a shit spy. 

“Give me one good reason not to tell Scott and the rest of my pack.” Strangely enough, it sounds like a plea.  _ That _ catches Theo’s full attention. Why does the beta not want to tell his friends? Theo studies him with care, but all he sees is anger burning bright and hot. 

“Go ahead, pup. Run and tell Stiles that he was right about me. Tell Scott that I can’t be trusted. It doesn’t matter. You can’t stop what’s happening. None of you can.” Theo confesses, showing just enough of his hand. Liam’s breath is ragged and unstable, chest heaving and brushing against Theo’s with every exhale. He kind of likes the way it feels.  _ Dangerous.  _

“Who were those men? Why are you working for them?” Liam tries again, something desperate in his voice. His claws loosen and that’s all the opening that Theo needs. Gripping Liam’s forearms, he shoves him back a half step and sweeps his ankles out from under him. The beta stumbles and falls, crying out in surprise, but he doesn’t have a chance to get to his feet. Theo kneels over him and pins him down, pressing an elbow to his throat. His own eyes shift to gold and he breathes out in a low chuckle. 

“Don’t get yourself in the middle of this, Liam. Keep your mouth shut if you want to live.” He knows that it’s said in vain, but he has to try. Liam growls again, deep in his chest, and Theo almost laughs in his face. He’s not strong enough to go toe to toe with Theo or the Dread Doctors. “Tell them or don’t. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.” He gets to his feet and walks away, leaving Liam sprawled across the ground. He half expects the beta to follow, but his heartbeat stays right where it is. Good. Theo’s got work to do. 

-

Liam’s breath came in ragged pants as he reached the floor of the hospital where the pack was gathered. Scott’s eyes fly to him, one eyebrow raised in question, and Liam holds up a hand while he collects himself. “I-“ He gasps, heart racing against his ribs. “I-I saw Theo!”

“Yeah...he was just here.” Stiles says slowly, looking like he’s worried for Liam’s sanity.

"No shit. So was I." He takes another deep breath to gather his thoughts. "You guys were talking and he left. You told me to keep an eye on him, right? So, I did. I have been. And so when he left all quietly like that I figured I should follow him."

"Okay, and?" Stiles makes a move-along motion. "Is there a point to this rambling?"

"You were right!" Liam blurts. "About Theo. About him lying about why he's here."

Scott's brows furrow and Malia straightens. Stiles leans forward and grips Liam's shoulder. "What did you see?"

"At first, he wasn't doing anything. Then- then he meets up with these three guys in masks-just like Malia described." Liam tells them what he'd overheard Theo tell them, how they'd given him orders to "find the next one" and that he didn't "need to know anything". "Then they disappeared and he called me out before I could confront him on my own. He told me that I should go ahead and tell you everything, that it wouldn't change what was going to happen. That we can't stop it."

"Stop what?" Scott asks.

"He didn't say. Just told me to stay out of it if I want to live."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Malia snaps.

"I don't know! He seemed… resigned that he'd been caught. Like, he can definitely control his heartbeat and chemosignals but there was something in his eyes like he'd lost something." Liam drags his fingers through his hair. "Look. I've been following him and watching him for a while. He's… it can't have  _ all  _ been an act. When I asked why he was working for them, he gave me some dramatic bullshit about it being beyond my imagination."

"So? He's working for the guys who killed Tracy. They want him to find someone else for whatever reason." Malia flails her arms in a way that reminds Liam of Stiles. "We should stop him. Kill him if we have to."

"We're not killing anyone," Scott calmly reprimands. "What exactly are you trying to say, Liam?"

"I just… I don't think he  _ wants  _ to be working for them."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Stiles asks. "People hate their jobs all the time."

"Yes. But they stay at their jobs because they don't have a choice. Which is kind of my point."

Scott catches Liam's attention. "So, what? You want us to give him another choice?" 

"If he knows what's coming, who those guys are, what they want, then we need to know it too."

"And if we want to know what he knows, we have to give him a reason to tell us. A good one." Scott's brows furrow as he thinks. "He said he was here for a pack. Do you think that's true?"

"If those guys are the ones pulling his chain, I'd say yes. Pack is strength, right? I think he'd want to be strong enough to leave them. Maybe."

"Well I'm not letting him into the pack on a maybe," says Malia. 

"Agreed." Stiles points at her.

"So we offer to be allies," Scott looks at them. "Offer him protection if he shares what he knows. What do you think Liam?"

"I think he'll take a lot of convincing. But it can't hurt to try."

-

When Theo receives a text from Scott, he’s not sure what to make of it. The true alpha wants to hang out at his house. Under normal circumstances, Theo wouldn’t question a text like that. But ever since Liam Dunbar caught him with the Dread Doctors, life had been different. He’s looking over his shoulder a little more frequently and he’s been waiting and waiting for the other shoe to drop. So far it’s been radio silence and he held his breath. Nothing from Scott, Stiles, or even Liam. The beta had no longer skulked outside his bedroom window, but that didn’t ease any of his fears.

Still, it wasn’t like he could deny Scott’s request. As far as he knows, the guy doesn’t know a damn thing. Theo intends to keep it that way for as long as he can. He parks his truck outside the McCall house and tilts his head as he hears several heartbeats inside. Great. A pack meeting? He strains his ears, but they aren’t talking about anything important. Liam’s complaining about a science quiz and Scott’s promising to help him study. Bracing himself for what could be a catastrophe, he hops down and pockets his keys.

Stiles is the one who answers the door, his eyes pinched at the corners as he lets Theo inside. His hackles raise as he steps further inside, skin prickling as all eyes shift to him. Some kind of trap, then. Gritting his teeth, he forces himself to relax and walk into the living room. “Hey,” he greets as he goes to join Liam on the couch. If he has to get out of there in a pinch, he’s taking the beta out with him. Every instinct is screaming for him to run and he clamps down on his chemosignals, eyes flicking to Scott. 

“Liam told us.” The other boy begins, rubbing at the back of his neck.

“Then you shouldn’t have called me here.” Theo’s claws prick to the surface and a warning rumble escapes Malia. 

“If you’d wanted to kill us, you wouldn’t have walked through that door. You knew he’d tell us.” Stiles reasons, crossing his arms over his chest. “Why’d you come inside?”

“Maybe it makes it easier to kill you.” Theo smirks, his eyes cutting to Malia as she growls and flashes blue eyes at him. “Think I’m afraid of you?”

“No. But you’re afraid of those men in masks.” Liam says softly, drawing his attention. “I saw it all, Theo. The way they threatened you. The fear in your eyes when I confronted you. You’re scared of them, too.”

“I’m not afraid of anything.” Theo grinds through his incisors.

“You’re lying,” Scott cocks his head down toward Theo’s traitorous heart. “We can protect you, Theo.”

“You can’t even protect yourselves.”

“Why don’t you help us?” Stiles pinches the bridge of his nose as though it pains him to ask for it. “Tell us what you know about what those guys are doing and we can protect you.”

“You think it’s that simple?” Theo scoffs and rubs his palms down against his knees. “It’s not. They’ll kill me if they even  _ think  _ I’m going against them.” 

“So play double agent.” Mason speaks up, offering an alternative that Theo’s never considered. “Help us stop them. Stop more lives from being lost.”

“Were you honest about wanting to be part of the pack?” Liam asks softly. 

“Does it matter?” Snorting, Theo pushes himself to his feet. “We’ll all be dead if their plan works.”

“Then let’s stop it before it happens.” Scott pleads, also rising. “You know those men and what they’re capable of. Together we can take them on. We can save lives, Theo. If you didn’t think there was a chance, then why did you really come here? We both know it wasn’t to kill us.” He hates the way that Scott says it so confidently. He has no right to have any faith in Theo.

“Scott, I can’t.”

“What do they have over you?” Lydia asks. “What’s more important than saving innocent lives?”

“Because no one bothered to save me.” Theo grits out, his heart racing in his chest. An uncomfortable silence fills the room and he takes a shaky breath. “Eight years.” He mutters, so softly that he knows no one but Scott can hear him. “That’s how long I’ve been with them.”

“Since Tara…?” Scott trails off and Theo closes his eyes. It’s enough of an answer. The fight leaves him at the mention of his sister and he collapses back onto the couch, bracing his forearms against his knees and hanging his head. “Who are they?” Scott asks, kneeling down in front of him.

“They call themselves the Dread Doctors. They’ve been around for a long, long time.” Theo says, the words making his throat itch. “I was with them for eight years. I’m the only success. Their first.” It used to fill him with such pride, but now it nauseates him. “Do you have any idea how many they’ve killed?” How much blood stains Theo’s hands? He used to dig graves to bury the fallen, but now he leaves them to rot. What’s the point? There are always too many damn bodies.

“Tracy’s not the first, is she?” Lydia asks quietly. Theo shakes his head, swallowing the lump in his throat. There’s a thread of panic running through him that he can’t seem to shake. But if he’s going to talk, he’s going to tell it all. At least as much as he can to get them off his back for the time being. They’ll eventually need all the details, but it’s too much for one sitting.

“Belasko was. He’s the one I helped you fight,” Theo clarifies softly. 

“With the talons. Could they really take an alpha’s power?” Kira asks.

“Probably. Doesn’t matter though. He failed.” He shrugs one shoulder and looks up, his eyes circling the room. Stiles’s face is pure horror, Malia’s disgust, but the one that captures his attention is Liam’s. Liam, the stupid little beta with soft lips stretched into a pout and a crease between his eyebrows. He doesn’t have the right to look so sad. So damn disappointed. Tearing his gaze away, he looks at Scott and takes a deep breath. “You don’t know what you’re trying to get in the middle of.” 

“Then help us understand.” Scott’s hand moves slowly and covers his own, squeezing lightly. “I don’t think you’re one of the bad guys, Theo. I think you just believe you are. Help us stop them and I’ll prove it to you.”

Theo wants to protest. He knows that this is him putting his life on the line and that he needs to put himself first. But he can’t. For once in his life, other people have stopped to ask  _ why _ and he lets that question play on loop through his head. His memories take a hazy form in the forefront of his mind, dozens upon dozens of surgeries and nights spent under a bloodied scalpel. He can hear the screams of others as they beg for their lives and plead for him to help. After nearly a decade of keeping himself alive but still on his own, he knows that he needs help. And if he’ll get to become a part of the pack at the end of all this? Even better. For once in his life, he doesn’t have to be alone. And for the first time, he actually lets himself believe that it might be okay.

-

The final bell rings and Theo packs his things with the words "genetic chimera" repeating themselves over and over in his brain. Of course he'd known that that was the requirement to becoming a manufactured supernatural creature. But he'd never correlated it with what he is.

It's as good a name as any to call the cheap knock-offs he and the other man made hybrids that crawl off the Dread Doctors' operating table are. Especially considering the havoc the unstable ones can and will wreak before they're deemed failures and put down. Not quite the three-headed creatures that terrorized an ancient greek city, but not that far off either. 

Speaking of unstable chimeras…

"Hey, Stiles!" Theo hollers down the hallway to catch the other boy's attention.

Stiles pauses and waits for him. He still watches Theo with suspicion, as he should. But the outright hostility has gone down a notch or two. 

"Hey," Theo starts when he reaches him. "So, yesterday was… look, that was hard for me, so I left before I could think about other things you might need to know."

"Like what?" Stiles squints at him.

"There is a lot, but most of it can wait for now. What I need to tell you right now is more immediately important."

"Then tell me."

"The next one is Donovan."

"Donovan Donati?"

"Yeah. The Dread Doctors picked him up after Tracy attacked the transport van. When they're finished with him, he's going to have a lot of, uh, power. And fangs. Specifically, wendigo fangs." 

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Not in the slightest." Theo resists the urge to shift on his feet and tucks his hands into his pockets. "Look, he's got it out for your dad and he might come after you to get to your dad. And these experiments tend to get violent when they start out emotionally stable. But the kids with mental issues, like Tracy? They're the ones that cause the most damage. Donovan already has violent tendencies, right? This is only going to amplify those. So, watch your back, okay?"

Stiles's eyes search Theo's face. Finally, he says, "I'll keep it in mind. Thanks." Then he tugs on the straps of his backpack and tilts his head. "Did you really just refer to these kids as 'experiments'?"

Theo shrugs. "I stopped thinking about them as kids a long time ago. It was easier. And yes, I am aware of how fucked up that sounds." Stiles just stares at him. "I was toying with the idea of calling them chimeras. You know, made up of incongruous parts."

"It's better than experiments." Stiles nods and tilts his head toward the exit. "Let's go tell Scott what you just told me."

-

Theo’s sitting on one of the surgery tables when they arrive in the tunnels. He ignores the ringing in his ears and leans back on his palms, watching as his three masked captors stride into the operating theatre. “Where have you been?” He asks, managing not to flinch when three masks peer at him in a calculating manner. Ever since the conversation with the pack, he feels like he’s walking on eggshells. 

_ “You will deliver this to the failure’s bedroom.”  _ A book lands in his lap and Theo stares down at the cover, raising a brow. 

“Didn’t know there was a bedtime story about you,” he drawls. “What’s it do?”

_ “It will reveal what we want them to remember.”  _ The geneticist answers.  _ “Convince them to read it.” _

“Duly noted.” Hopping down from the table, he tucks the book into the back pocket of his jeans and leaves as fast as he dares. Thankfully, they don’t question him. 

When he pops up out of the sewers near Tracy’s house, he feels like he can still taste their presence. Had they been trying to get rid of evidence of themselves? He doubted they gave a damn to do that. Theo was their errand boy. Whatever they’d wanted, they’d no doubt found. It’s all too easy to sneak into the crime scene bedroom and set the book on the nightstand. He knows that he’s got to wipe away every trace of his scent, but as he turns around he feels a sense of dread in his stomach. 

“How did you find me here?” He asks, folding his arms over his chest. Liam steps into the doorway, his gaze curious and distrustful. Good. He shouldn’t trust Theo. The baby beta should get as far away from here as he can if he values his life. 

“It wasn’t all that hard. We stationed ourselves in different places. We wanted to monitor the Dread Doctors.” Liam admits, scratching the back of his head. “I thought you were them coming back.”

“Did you see anything? Did they know you were here?” Theo asks, nausea filling him. 

“Don’t think so. I was just parking at the end of the street when I saw them appear on the street. Heard this awful hum in the air. I waited until it was gone and came to investigate. Then you came inside.” Liam gives him the play by play and some of Theo’s tension dispels. 

“You’re idiots. If they catch you snooping around, they’ll kill you. It was reckless.” He chides. 

“We don’t trust you,” Liam combats with a growl. “And what are you even doing here?”

“I said I would help, but I’m doing it on my terms.” Theo says. The prickling sensation returns on his neck hairs and he marches across the room, ducking under the police caution tape and grabbing Liam by the arm. “We need to go.”

“Are they coming back?” Liam asks. Theo shakes his head and concentrates on masking his scent, dragging Liam from the house. He can’t do much for the smell of the beta, but he hasn’t been there long enough to have a lingering scent. As they make it across the street and duck down behind bushes, Theo hears a car pull up. He hears Malia grumbling to herself as she steps from the car makes her way to the house. 

“Why are we hiding from my pack?” Liam hisses when the front door shuts. 

“Because I don’t trust them not to get me killed.” Theo answers, surprising both of them. For once, the beta keeps his mouth shut. It’s not until they’re making their way down the street toward Liam’s car that he finally opens his mouth again. 

“You trust me not to get you killed?” The question throws Theo and he stumbles to a halt. The word  _ ‘no’ _ immediately perches on the tip of his tongue, but he can’t work it past his lips. He doesn’t know how to answer that. He knows that he doesn’t completely trust anyone, hasn’t in years, but there’s something different about Liam. Maybe it’s the fact that he went to his pack and  _ didn't  _ ask for Theo to be killed. He certainly wouldn’t have been the first to beg an alpha for Theo’s death. 

“I don’t know,” he admits. That thought terrifies him more than it should. Is he really that afraid to trust someone? Before he can further contemplate, Liam unlocks his car and his attention is shaken. 

“Do you need a ride somewhere?” Liam asks, biting down on his lip. “Home?”

“Don’t really have one,” Theo says before he can help himself. And fuck. Liam’s expression drops like a kicked puppy. Why the hell did he tell him that? “I don’t need your pity,” he growls out. 

“But you had a home a few nights ago…” He’s not wrong. Unfortunately, the dear Dreads had decided his fake parents had outlived their usefulness and killed them the previous night. It was back to the tunnels for Theo. 

“Thought your pack was keeping an eye on me?” Theo raises a brow. “They didn’t think to check in on my fake family?” Liam’s phone rings as if on cue and Theo lets out a bitter chuckle. “I’ll see you around, pup.”

“But what about the thing you planted in Tracy’s room?” Liam asks. Shaking his head, Theo shoves his hands down into his pockets and starts to walk down the street. 

“I said I’d help in my own way. You’ll see.” He calls back. He doesn’t think too much as Liam starts his car and drives past him. He just hopes that at least this time, it’s a believable accident for the poor bastards.


	2. Chapter 2

“Hey,” Liam greets as he answers his phone. He checks the rear view mirror, but Theo is already out of his line of sight. 

“Dude. I need you.” Mason answers. 

“Did something happen? Another one like Tracy?” His fingers tighten around the steering wheel, heart beating faster. “Where are you?”

“It’s not like that. I’m not in danger.” Mason assures. “I need you to come out with me tonight.” Liam considers the setting sun and sighs. He knows that his parents won’t mind him going out. His stepdad has a 36-hour shift at the hospital and his mom is out with some friends. There’s emergency money sitting on the kitchen counter in case he needs it. 

“Where to?” He asks, knowing he’s going to regret this. He can practically hear Mason’s grin stretching over the phone. 

“Sinema.”

Liam definitely didn’t expect to find himself walking into a club that night. Yet there he was, walking side by side with Mason as they push past the beaded curtains. Hayden is on their heels and Liam hears her slight huff of annoyance under her breath. He rolls his eyes. It’s not his fault that she still holds a grudge for what happened. They were still kids. He hadn’t meant to give her a black eye, but she’d sure as hell meant to give him one back. He was lucky she’d let him into the club - after Mason had thrown in some extra cash. 

Flashing lights and music assaulted his senses as they stepped into the club and he looked around, mouth going dry. Was this where Mason went when he wasn’t hanging with Liam? He’d had no idea that Mason prowled for dates on the dance floor. Or were they just hook ups? Confusion filled him as he saw guys and girls packed on the dance floor, bodies pressed together as they danced. Shirtless men danced on little platform stages, men wearing corsets and wigs flashed flirtatious grins, and his heart threatened to beat out of his chest. 

Mason weaves them through the crowd, his gaze lingering on a dancer in black and green underwear that leaves nothing to the imagination. Liam’s proud to say that he isn’t straight, but he can’t hide his blush as he tears his gaze from the man’s bulge. They make their way to the DJ stand and Mason turns them, scanning the crowd in excitement. They meander through more dancers on platforms and Liam exhales, shoving his hands deep into his pockets. 

“We don’t look old enough to be here,” he says. 

“Neither does he.” Mason’s head tilts towards a raised stage at the back of the room. Liam steps up at his side, lips parting in surprise as he sees his worst nightmare, Brett Talbot, standing there with a girl wrapped around him from behind. 

“So is this club mixed?” He asks, unable to tear his eyes away as Brett lifts the girl’s hands from his waist and turns to bring her up against his chest. She steps away as another boy plasters himself along Brett’s back, taking his hands and turning him around. Brett nestles a thigh between his legs and they sway together, the other boy resting his hands against Brett’s chest as they dance. It’s a far more arousing sight than it has any right to be. 

“Ish.” Mason replies. 

“Isn’t that Josh Diaz?” Liam asks, filing away that information for later. He hadn’t known Brett was bisexual. 

“I think so. He’s in my advanced physics class.” Mason says. “I’m going to go say hey and interrupt. Think you can score us a drink?”

“Sure thing.” Liam shrugs and pivots on his heel, making his way toward the bar. The smell of Hayden’s perfume makes him falter in his step. 

“...getting drunk as usual.” His ears prick at the sound of Hayden’s voice and he looks up, watching her and the bartender exchange words. The man grins smugly and Hayden turns, storming away. She pauses next to a group of people, looking down at the money on her tray. “I’m never going to make enough.” Shaking her head, she keeps her down low and continues on past Liam. He doesn’t know what she’s talking about, but his heart aches a little. Is she struggling with money? He knows her older sister is a cop, but it's just the two of them. Has been for as long as Liam has known her. 

As he turns back around, he finds Brett sitting down and offering a shot to Mason. Josh is slinking off into the crowd, looking immensely pleased as he disappears. Mason’s got a hand over his chest, laughing at something Brett has said, and the werewolf is grinning from ear to ear. Liam almost wished that the guy wasn’t such a jerk and would ask Mason out. Now that he knows Brett is a werewolf, he knows damn well that Brett is aware of Mason’s huge crush on him. But he hasn’t said anything and Mason seems content flirting with him every chance he gets. The pair clink their shot glasses and Liam starts to go and join them, but a fresh scent fills his nostrils. It isn’t human. It’s not a species that he recognizes, but it puts him on edge. 

He crosses quickly to Mason and Brett, chest heaving as he scents the air. “What’s up?” Brett asks, his smile slipping. 

“Something’s here.” He says, clenching his fingers into his palms so they don’t sprout into claws. “Do you smell it?” Brett sets down his shot glass and gets to his feet, scanning the room as he and Liam walk a few feet away for privacy. 

“No, I didn’t catch anything.” He says at last. 

“No one else in here’s like us?” Liam asks. He’s sure the scent wasn’t human, but he can’t place it. 

“I don’t know, dude.” Brett stammers slightly. “Maybe, it’s Beacon Hills.” He turns to Liam. “What’s the difference?”

“It felt different.” Frustration bleeds into his tone. He knows Brett is trying to help, but he can’t help it. The unknown is dangerous. He can’t put Mason at risk like this, even if Sinema wasn’t his idea. 

“What do you mean?” Brett’s expression shifts to something more serious. 

“It felt...off.” Liam struggles to find the right words. It had reeked of chemicals and something familiar there he couldn’t put his nose to. “It felt wrong.” He turns away, still trying to track the fading scent, and Brett’s hand lands softly on his upper back. 

“Whatever it is, we’ll take care of it. He’ll be safe.” Brett tells him gently. 

“You can’t promise that.” He says, turning back to the older boy. “And don’t pretend that you care.”

“Who says I don’t?” Brett raises a brow. 

“You know all about his crush on you.” It’s not the time or place for this conversation, but Liam can’t bite his tongue. The other wolf huffs a laugh and nods, shoving his hands deep into his pockets. 

“Yeah. And?” He prompts. 

“And you are leading him on. Why?” 

“I’m not leading him on, Liam. Mason knows that I can’t date him.” For a moment, he swears that Brett sounds apologetic. 

“Why not?” Fire floods through him and he can see his eyes reflecting in Brett’s, two pools of gold. “Is he not good enough for you?”

“Calm down, Liam. I can’t date him because he’s  _ your _ best friend.” Brett rolls his eyes. 

“What does that have to do with anything?” He demands. 

“Everything. You and I are still on rocky ground, aren’t we?” Brett points out. “I know you still don’t trust me.”

“You pelted me with lacrosse balls.”

“In a  _ dream _ that you had after I yelled at you for losing a lacrosse game. Dude, I get being upset because of last year, but the zoo thing was a dream. Let. It. Go.” Brett chuckles softly and Liam sighs. He knows that Brett is right. But he’s also a dick. 

“So, you won’t date him because you and I aren’t friends?” He asks, eager to redirect the conversation. 

“No. I won’t date him because it would make you uncomfortable and that isn’t fair to him. Mason’s a good guy and he’s a catch. He’s going to make a guy very,  _ very _ happy. But I’m not that guy.” Brett tells him. 

“Hey,” Mason says as he approaches from behind Brett. “Uh, do you see that guy?” He nods across the room to someone wearing a tight black shirt. “He keeps looking over here. Do you know him?”

“Yeah, that’s Lucas.” Brett says. Mason nods his head, lips parting as he studies the boy across the room. Liam knows exactly what he’s thinking. Lucas smirks, tipping his head in an inviting gesture, and Mason starts in his direction. 

“Be careful.” Liam says. He starts to walk away to do a sweep of the room, but the scent fills his nose again. He turns back, eyes glowing gold, and he starts to make his way through the crowd. People are dancing and pressed close, forcing him to sidestep a half dozen times. He’s barely paying attention when he stumbles into Hayden, knocking her and her tray of shots over. 

“Are you kidding me?” Hayden asks, righting herself before she can fall. “Those were $10 each!”

“Sorry,” Liam tells her. He looks down at the glass and liquid on the floor, twisting from side to side. Shit. 

“The bartender isn’t just going to refill them for me,” she huffs. He lifts his gaze, not surprised to find pure anger and annoyance directed at him. This time, at least, he deserves it. 

“Uh, okay, um, I’ve got money.” He stammers out, letting down his pockets. He manages to pull out cash and a handful of cash, offering it to her. “I’ve got $12 and some change.” She snatches it from his hands, rolling her eyes. 

“You still owe me $200.” She tosses the change at him and spins around, stalking toward the bar. 

“Smooth,” Brett compliments as he comes up behind Liam. 

“Fuck off,” he growls. He checks his inner pocket for more cash and slowly looks around the room. “Where’s Mason?”

“Dancing with Lucas. I think they’re near the back exit,” Brett nods in the direction where Liam and Mason had entered. 

“I want to keep him in my sight.” Liam says, already starting in that direction. “You should find Josh and make sure he’s safe, too.”

“After we check on Mason,” Brett agrees. 

“Are you dating him?” He asks curiously. 

“No, but I will be by the end of the night.” Brett answers with a wicked smirk. It falls away and he quickens his pace, alarm written on his face. He pushes through the beaded curtain and grabs the back of Lucas’s shirt, hauling him off Mason and throwing him into the next room. Liam’s eyes go wide and he tries to piece together what happened, but then he sees the spikes covering Lucas. “Run,” Brett snarls as he turns with fangs and burning eyes. 

“What the hell?” Liam rasps.

-

Theo makes his way to the school where he'd left his truck parked. Now that he's no longer staying in his fake house, he thinks he'll carve out a place in the water plant to stay in until whatever happens, happens. Hopefully, the Dread Doctors will be dead before they can enact their plan and Theo can disappear forever.

As the school comes into view, he hears a loud crash come from the direction of the library. He starts running toward the building as fast as possible, recognizing the sound of Stiles's voice as he yells. He bursts through the door to see Stiles climbing the scaffolding, Donovan hot on his heels.

Donovan grabs Stiles's leg. "Don't worry, Stiles. I'm not going to kill you. I'm going to eat your legs."

Theo bounds forward to grab Donovan but before he can reach them, Stiles pulls a pin that collapses a portion of the scaffolding. A support beam slams into Theo's shoulder, knocking him to the ground. 

As Theo stands up, a choking sound catches his attention. He looks over to see Donovan impaled on another support beam.  _ Fuck.  _ Stiles climbs down stand beside him.

When Stiles reaches out and grabs the beam, Theo lurches forward. "Don't!"

Stiles jumps, startled and whirls around to face Theo. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I heard the fight. I came to help but I was just in time to see…" he gestures toward the mess. "If you try to pull it out, he'll definitely die. And I'll be honest, man, it doesn't look like he's going to make it either way. Moving the bar will just be more painful."

Stiles's gaze is anguished as he turns back toward Donovan. Theo feels indifferent as they watch Donovan rattle out one final breath before all the tension leaves his body. Then he feels abashed for feeling indifferent.

He shrugs off the discomfort and reaches for the body.

"What are you doing?" Stiles grabs him and pulls him back.

"I'm getting him off that thing so we can get him out of here before someone finds him," Theo talks slowly, in case the shock has gone to Stiles's head.

"You can't do that! We've got to call this in and get out of here. Or… or I'll tell them it was self defense or whatever. He was going to kill me, you saw it. You can tell them what you saw."

"I could. Do you want me to tell them about him threatening to  _ eat your legs _ with his  _ mouth full of fangs? _ Are we going to tell them he has extra fang-filled mouths on his hands and neck and anywhere else because some parascientists experimented on him in the sewers? Tell me what you need me to say, Stiles. We've got to make sure our stories match."

Stiles reaches up to drag his fingers through his hair, but stops when he sees the blood on his hands. He clenches them into fists instead. "Then what exactly do you want us to do, huh?"

"We get him out of here. We clean up the blood and make it look like the scaffolding collapse happened while no one was here. Then we take his body to the hospital and turn it over to Melissa, just like Tracy. He'll become one more unsolved missing person."

"How does your mind even come up with this?"

"Years of practice. You're lucky I'm even suggesting taking him to the morgue. Now, it'll be easier to pull the beam out than pull him off, so help me tip this to the side."

He makes Stiles lift Donovan's legs, then he keeps the body steady as he tips it away from him. When Donovan touches the ground, Theo grips the beam and jerks it from the dead boy's torso.

He scoops the body into his arms and nods toward the fully intact scaffolding on the other side of the room. "Grab that tarp so we can wrap him in it."

Stiles follows his order, then, after they've rolled the body in the tarp, Theo carries it to the door, setting it down and turning back to Stiles. "Let's find a mop and clean up the blood."

Stiles doesn't say anything, just follows him to the utility closet. Theo sets Stiles to the task of filling the bucket with water and floor cleaner while he digs out two full rolls of paper towels and a trash bag. When Stiles stops to furrow his brows at Theo's choices, Theo shrugs. "It's a lot easier to mop streaks off the floor, than a huge puddle. So we soak up as much as we can, toss the paper towels,  _ then  _ mop. Throw away that mop head, mop again with bleach water."

"Let me guess, years of practice." Stiles looks disgusted.

Theo shrugs again and heads back to the main floor. They work silently and efficiently, laying down the paper towels until as much of the blood is soaked up as possible. After they toss the soiled paper towels, Stiles starts mopping while Theo starts rearranging the collapsed beams to look like they fell into the bookshelf that had been destroyed during the fight.

Stiles pauses his task and stares at a silver streak among the red. "That is mercury, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it's one of the components used to make the supernatural DNA graft to the human DNA." Theo explains, not pausing tossing books across the broken shelf. "It's also what causes the chimeras to go crazy if left untreated, which it usually is. Basically late stage erethism."

"Mad hatter's disease."

"Yep."

"What happens if they treat it?"

Theo just quirks an eyebrow at him.

"You. You're a chimera."

"I'm surprised you're just now figuring this out, to be honest." Theo grabs a large section of scaffolding and rams it through the hole in the bookshelf, knocking over more books. "I was the first successful experiment. Go me."

"So," Stiles continues mopping, "the guy you fought was werewolf and eagle? Tracy was werewolf and kanima." He points at the tarp covered body. "Were-windigo, or whatever. What about you?"

"Werewolf and werecoyote." Theo shrugs, grateful that Stiles can't hear his heart trying to beat it's way out of his chest at the idea of sharing this secret with someone he barely trusts.

Before Stiles can ask any more questions, Theo grabs the bucket to empty the bloody water, refills it with bleach water, and grabs a clean mop head. He returns to find Stiles bagging up the old mop head. "Go ahead and toss that bag in the back of my truck. I'll dispose of it properly later. I'm parked on the west side of the building." 

Stiles nods and ties up the bag. While he takes it out, Theo finishes his task, trying to figure out how he got there. Two nights ago, he was telling Donovan to go after Stiles to get at the sheriff. Now he's helping clean up the kid's death. But not on purpose.

That's the kicker. When he'd wound Donovan up and pointed him in Stiles's direction, he'd banked on either saving him and gaining his trust as an in into the pack, or Donovan succeeding and Stiles being permanently out of his way. 

He'd been hoping for the former; thinking if he could bring back the dark side of Stiles that had attracted a dark kitsune, then they'd have a chance against what's coming. But now he has to come up with a new plan. He can't steal the pack if they know who and what he is.

What if he really can earn a place?

Stiles returns as Theo's dumping the bleach water and cleaning out the mop. When he's finished, he closes the utility closet, then surveys his handiwork one last time. "Alright. Let's get the hell out of here."

He picks up the tarp covered body again and motions for Stiles to lead the way. "Your car or mine?"

"Mine closes," Stiles points out. "Unless you want a body in your back seat?"

"Not particularly. Takes forever for the smell to leave."

"Jesus fucking Christ. Okay. Just- set him down behind the bushes so you don't look like you're carrying a dead body." Stiles directs Theo with exaggerated arm movements. "I'll grab my Jeep, you grab your truck. We'll meet here so you can help load him in the back of the Jeep."

"Sounds good."

They split up after Theo settles Donovan's body behind the bushes. He digs his keys out of his pocket and heads toward his truck. He's still wrapping his mind around how far left his night has turned. All he'd had to do was deliver the book and find a place to stay. Now he's toying with the idea of trusting a member of the pack he was planning to tear apart, and covering up a crime scene with another member. 

What the actual fuck?

Theo sighs and jams his key into the ignition and pulls around the building to park beside Stiles's Jeep. They both hop out of their respective vehicles. Stiles walks around the Jeep to open the back hatch while Theo makes his way back around the bushes.

Theo stops dead in his tracks. "What the fuck?"

"What?"

"He's gone."

"What the hell do you mean he's gone?"

"I mean Donovan's body is fucking gone." 

And it is. Where Theo had laid the remains of an angry, traumatized boy was now an empty tarp that had been ripped open. All that's left is a shallow pool of drying blood.

"Oh, my god." Stiles this at his hair. "He really is gone. Do you think he got out himself?"

"No way," Theo assures him. "He was  _ impaled." _

"So? I've seen Derek after he'd been impaled and he's alive and well!" Stiles flails in agitation. "Hell,  _ Argent _ has been impaled and he's still kicking; and he's  _ human!  _ How do you know Donovan, with his new powers, couldn't heal enough to walk away from that?"

"Because that pole went straight through his heart, Stiles. And he  _ died.  _ Did Derek or Argent die when they were impaled? I doubt it." Theo grabs Stiles's shoulders and looks up into his eyes until the taller boy's eyes start to clear and the logic kicks in. "He's dead."

"So, what, then? Someone stole his body?"

"That's what it looks like. We should tell Scott."


	3. Chapter 3

Theo's mind is reeling as he parks his truck beside the Jeep in the hospital parking lot. Who would take a dead body? Why?

He seriously, seriously hopes it wasn't the Dread Doctors. He assumes he'd be dead if it was, but the possibility is turning his stomach into knots. He takes a deep breath to try to settle his nerves and climbed out of the truck to join Stiles as they make their way into the hospital. Scott had told them that Melissa wanted him to see one of the patients.

They follow the signs to the burn ward of all places. They see Melissa standing outside a room with a tall black man with a familiar scent all over his clothes. _Liam._ Theo scowls as his animals' awareness perks up at the scent. 

Melissa sees them and waves them toward the door. "Thanks, Dr. Geyer. I'll keep you updated," she tells the man who smells like Liam and squeezes Stiles's shoulder and eyeballs Theo as they pass her. Ah, so they'd told her about him. He nods at her and on his way into the room Scott is in. He pauses in the doorway to see a familiar face laying on the hospital bed.

_*Theo walks through the secret passageway and into the main floor of the operating theater. Apparently the Dread Doctors had kept themselves busy while he was at school._

_There are two new kids on the tables. Theo doesn't recognize the dark-skinned boy farthest from him, but he's pretty sure he's seen the pale boy, currently laying with needles sticking out all over his body like some kind of sinister acupuncture, at BHHS. He's about to turn away when the boy opens his eyes and looks directly at Theo._

_"Please. Help."_

_Theo blinks at him. As if that were an option. He doesn't offer a sympathetic smile or a useless lie about how it's going to be okay. If he's on the table, he's doomed to a grisly death._

_Unless he's the success._

_If that's the case, Theo will kill him before the Dread Doctors could bring back their precious beast._

_Theo walks away, leaving the experiment to his fate.*_

Scott's voice pulls Theo out of his own memories. ".. Corey. I am glad to see you're feeling better."

Stiles slips past Theo and drops a hand on Scott's shoulder. "Hey, uh, Scotty? I'm sorry to interrupt but something just happened that needs your immediate attention." He pulls the alpha toward the door, nodding apologetically toward the boy on the bed.

Corey. Theo hadn't even known his name.

"You can have him back in a few minutes," Stiles promises.

Theo is a little relieved when Corey looks at him without any recognition. He smiles grimly and steps out of the doorway to let Stiles, Scott, and Kira out of the room.

Melissa frowns at them and closes the door. "What's going on?"

"Someone is stealing bodies," Stiles says seriously.

Kira grins nervously. "What?"

"Also, Donovan is dead," Theo throws out.

This time it's Scott who asks, "What?"

A wave of guilt pours off of Stiles as the other boy hunches his shoulders and mutters, "I killed him."

"Shut up," Theo snaps before anyone can say anything. "No, you didn't. All you did was pull a pin."

Stiles glares at him, "He is dead because of me, because _I pulled a pin."_

"He's dead because he was chasing you up rickety scaffolding, because he was going to _eat your legs._ And then torture you to make your dad suffer. Self-defense, Stiles."

"It's not that black and white, Theo."

"It is. If you all insist on stepping into my life, you're going to have to learn to let go of those shades of grey. You're going to have to learn to compartmentalize, because the Dread Doctors are single-minded in their goal. They don't give one single fuck that their experiment is dead, they don't care how many more kids they have to kidnap and experiment on and turn into little monsters. Monsters, Stiles. Donovan was a monster, and he would have killed you, then he would have killed your dad. He can't do that now because you pulled a pin. You and your dad get to live. That's all there is."

Stiles's jaw flexes as he grinds his teeth. Theo can practically see his practical mind warring with his emotions. He knows Theo is right, but he won't accept it.

Their stare down is interrupted by Scott clearing his throat. "Okay. So, Donovan was attacking Stiles and Stiles pulled a pin on some scaffolding and now Donovan is dead?"

Theo shrugs. "He was impaled by one of the support beams."

"Oh, my god." Melissa closes her eyes in dismay.

"Um, wow, okay." Kira stares at the middle distance while she processes. "But, what does that have to do with stolen bodies?"

"We cleaned up the scene, wrapped his body up in a tarp," Theo starts to answer.

"You _cleaned up_ a crime scene and moved a dead body?" Melissa stares at him.

"First of all, it was self defense, not a crime. Second, he had a mouth full of wendigo fangs and extra mouths on other parts of his body." She gapes at him. Theo shrugs. "DNA is weird. Anyway, we were going to bring him here quietly, like Tracy at the animal clinic. We left him behind some bushes while we got our vehicles. When we came back for him, the tarp was ripped open and his body was gone. And before anyone asks, no he could not have gotten up and walked away. His heart was destroyed. Chimeras can survive just about anything a werewolf can, but nothing survives their heart being impaled."

"So you think someone took him?" Scott asks. "Who? Why?"

"I don't know. But I think we might have a more immediate problem. What is Corey here for?"

"Scorpion sting. He says it was a boy named Lucas that did it to him."

Theo nods thoughtfully, rubbing his palm over the stubble on his chin. "If Lucas has attacked one person, he'll attack others. And soon."

Stiles squints at Theo. "What else?"

"What?"

"What else do you know?"

Theo stares at him for a beat or two before sighing and rolling his eyes. "He's a chimera, clearly, but so is Corey."

"What?" Melissa asks as everyone looks at the closed door.

"You're going to have to explain a miracle recovery pretty soon. Probably."

"Probably?"

Theo shrugs. "The venom could be altered. No way to tell until he either recovers or dies."

Scott sighs. "We'll deal with it when we get there. For now, we have to find Lucas. Let's go ask Corey where he thinks he might be."

He turns toward the door and everyone files into the room behind him. Corey eyes them all warily.

"Hey, Corey…" Scott stands beside his bed. "What Lucas did to you? He's gonna do it to someone else, and it's gonna be much worse. We need to know what happened."

"I don't really know." Corey answers. "He's never been like that before…"

"Like what?"

"Aggressive. We were taking it slow, but it wasn't me-- he was the shy one. Then, we're hanging out today, and it's like he was a different person."

"Like, different how?"

"Like, super confident. We were just kissing, and then I felt this sharp sting on my arm, and... And then I looked up at him, and I swear, his eyes turned black."

Kira blinks at him. "You mean totally black?"

"The whole eye. But it was only for a second. And then he said 'Sorry,' that he'll see me at the club tonight, and then he just left. And then a few minutes later, I'm in the worst pain of my life."

"Hold on," Kira steps forward. "You said 'club'. What club?"

"Every Friday night... Sinema."

-

Lucas surges up into a crouch, his eyes liquid black as he stares at the werewolves. _Chimera,_ Liam’s mind whispers. He’s the one with the wrong scent. The one who taints the air around them. His nostrils flare out and he steps forward, breathing unsteadily as he steps toward Brett. With a roar, the other beta turns away and swipe at Lucas. The smaller boy ducks under his arm and turns as Brett does, catching him by the throat. 

He throws him back against metal staging, intent on trying to sink his spikes into Brett’s throat. Liam watches as the other boy reaches back and gets a grip on the metal, using it to throw his weight and get his legs up between them. He delivers a kick that Liam _knows_ cracks Lucas’s ribs and turns to find Mason still behind him. “Go,” he snarls as his fangs lengthen fully. 

When he turns back, spikes are ripping through Brett’s stomach and he’s collapsing to the floor with a roar of pain. Blood drips down and as Lucas raises his arms up, intent on driving his spikes down through Brett’s skull, he leaps into action. Tucking down, he barrels into the chimera and throws him bodily away from his injured friend. Lucas twists them both around, slamming Liam down against a speaker, and he grunts in pain. The adrenaline floods through him and he rears up, slamming their foreheads together and temporarily stunning Lucas.

It’s not enough to get back on his feet. The chimera hisses and lunges forward, black eyes staring straight through him as he attacks in blind rage. Liam manages to grab his wrists and hold him back, snarling and struggling to get him off. The beaded curtains across the room part and he turns his head for a split second, relief filling him at the sight of his alpha and the kitsune.

“You’re a little late,” he says. Scott jumps right into action, swinging himself around a bit of scaffolding and planting his feet into Lucas’s side. With the chimera off of him, Liam rises in time to see Theo enter the room. “Did you know about him?!” He demands. Scott sails across the room and he growls, turning and attempting to take Lucas down again. He hits the ground at Theo’s feet a second later, winded as the older boy leans down and drags him onto his feet. 

“Brett, hey.” Mason slips around them and kneels down next to the other boy, hands hovering over his wounds as he struggles to sit up.

“What is that thing?” Liam doesn’t think he’s ever heard Brett sound so afraid. 

“A chimera. A failure.” Theo grits out. Wrenching his arm free of Theo’s grasp, he races toward Lucas as he and Kira become locked in a fight. Catching him around the waist, he slams Lucas down against the ground with enough force to knock his breath away. As he straightens up, he sees the black eyes shift back to brown and Lucas lets out a ragged breath.

“Liam, look out!” Theo yells. Snapping his gaze up, he finds Kira surrounded by foxfire and charging with her sword. She speaks in a language he doesn’t recognize and brings her sword down, but Scott yells her name and grabs her by the wrist. Letting out a shaky breath, he watches his alpha and the girl have their own stare down before the foxfire fizzles out.

“Is everyone okay?” Scott asks. Liam's gaze immediately flies to Brett, who still can’t seem to get back on his feet. Lucas twitches at his feet, spikes and claws receding, and another raspy breath leaves him. “We need to get him out of here. Liam, give me a hand.” He takes a step forward and they lift him by arms and ankles. Barely a foot off the ground, something metal and pointed pierces Lucas’s chest and his blood splashes up. 

They both drop him and back up, looking at each other, Lucas, and then up toward the rafters as another metal pole digs into Lucas’s chest and begins to feel him in. The men in masks. A cold fear settles through him and his breath seizes for a moment. 

“Why did you do that?” Scott asks shakily, shifting on the balls of his feet.

 _“His condition was terminal.”_ The one at the front answers.

“What does that mean?” Scott asks. The masked man says nothing, turning away as if they’re not worth his time. Liam knows they aren’t. “What does that mean?” An edge of desperation enters Scott’s voice. There’s a small pause, barely enough to get a breath in, and then the figure turns back around.

 _“Failure.”_ The lights above them spark and in the blink of an eye, they’re gone. He stares down at Lucas again, his spikes and claws still out, and feels a cold chill crawl down his spine. _Fuck._

“Gotta...gotta get him out of here.” Brett says, drawing his attention. Mason finally has him on his feet, arm wrapped around his waist for support. He turns to address Theo, but the other boy is gone. 

“I’ll call my mom and tell her we’re bringing another one.” Scott says, already digging his phone from his pocket. “Where’s Stiles?”

“He went to get the place evacuated. Gas leak or something,” Theo says as he comes back through the beaded curtains.

“Where the hell did you go?” Liam snaps.

“To make sure no one wandered back here while the club was evacuating.” Rolling his eyes, Theo turns toward Brett and cocks his head. “Beta of Satomi, right?”

“Do I know you?” Brett gasps, nearly doubling over as Mason applies pressure to his wound. 

“We should get you home,” Mason starts. The beta shakes his head, grimacing as he looks around the room.

“Not until I know Josh is okay.” He says. Theo’s lips thin slightly, but he doesn’t offer any useful information and Liam dismisses it as his own paranoia. 

“Everyone is evacuated, we won’t be able to find him in the crowd outside.” Mason tries to reason with him, but the werewolf flashes brilliant gold eyes and he falls quiet.

“Josh,” he insists before pushing himself away from Mason and stumbling from the room.

“I’ll go make sure he’s not taken by an ambulance or anything…” Mason trails off and goes after him, leaving them in the room alone. Shaking his head, Liam helps Scott lift the body and Kira covers him up. They manage to get him through the emergency exit and into the Jeep where Stiles is waiting, looking more and more anxious by the second. When Liam turns to ask Theo where he’s going to go, the other boy is long gone.

He sighs and climbs into the backseat of the Jeep. Mason was his ride to the club, but he will be with Brett for the foreseeable future. He wrinkles his nose at the smell of Lucas's tainted blood and wonders where Theo could've gone. Liam is trying not to be pissed that the other boy up and left them to do cleanup. He gets that the Dread Doctors (are they really calling them that?) think Theo's still on their side, and that Theo probably shouldn't be seen helping them, but still. Liam is starting to get very annoyed by the other boy's absence, even if he doesn't quite understand why he's so annoyed.

He shakes his head at himself and leans over the front seat to listen to Stiles and Scott talk about their next step.

"-the animal clinic with Tracy is probably for the best, you're right. Mom's not going to like it." Scott scratches the back of his neck.

"Neither is my dad, but they can't go to the morgue through the regular doors with the extra shit and you know it." Stiles's fingers tap rapidly along the steering wheel.

Scott opens his mouth to reply when his phone chimes. He digs his phone out of his pocket and frowns at the screen. "The hell? It's the clinic's alarm system. There's been an unauthorized entry."

"Shit." Stiles turns the key in the ignition and the Jeep coughs a couple of times before finally starting.

It takes them 15 minutes to make it to the animal clinic. Liam frowns when he sees a familiar blue truck parked outside the back entrance. Why would Theo come here? Why would he break in?

"What the fuck?" Stiles mutters as he glares at the truck.

Scott just frowns and exits the Jeep. The rest of them follow and they make their way inside where they find Theo staring into a small, empty morgue locker. They'd had to bend Tracy's legs to fit her into the space meant for a large dog. Now, her body is gone.

"Well, this isn't suspicious at all," Stiles drawls.

"As if I'd be stupid enough to let you catch me doing whatever it is you think I've done," Theo scoffs. "The back door was open when I got here five minutes ago and she was already gone."

"What are you doing here, Theo?" Liam asks.

"Following a hunch. I was too late." Theo closes the door to the drawer and turns toward them. "Since Donovan went missing, I thought whoever took him would probably take other chimera bodies too. I was right, but, like I said, I was too late to see who did it, let alone stop them."

"You had a hunch?" Stiles asks dubiously.

"Yes. Look, I know the Dread Doctors aren't taking the bodies. They're failures. Once they figure out a chimera isn't the success, they could care less about it."

"Except you, though. They keep you around, but you're not what they're hoping to achieve, right?"

Before Theo can answer, Scott turns to Stiles. "Wait, what?" He turns to Theo next. "Is he saying you're a chimera?"

"I'm the first," Theo answers. "You don't notice the coyote, but it's why Malia was willing to trust me."

Liam's head is reeling at this new information. Theo is a chimera. Suddenly, every little thing that felt _off_ about him makes more sense. The shape of his fangs, the slightly duller tint to his eyes, the ever-changing scent that would tease Liam's nose. By the look on Scott's face, Liam thinks he's probably coming to the same conclusions.

Theo continues as if he didn't just drop a bomb on Liam's head. "I'm like a well trained pet to them, as well as a reminder that they are so close to their goal. 'Chimera' is a perfect identifier for us because it isn't just a monster with different parts. It can also mean 'something impossible to achieve' or 'An unrealizable dream.'"

"And they realized you?" Scott asks.

"They came close with me. But, we can't all be perfect." 

Liam frowns at the bitterness in Theo's tone at the last sentence. "And the perfect chimera? The success?" he asks. "What will their purpose be for the Dread Doctors?"

An emotion that looks a lot like fear tightens Theo's features before he schools his expression. "I can't tell you that. Not yet."

"Why not?"

"Plausible deniability. I've probably already told you too much, but this part you're going to have to figure out on your own or wait until I'm ready to completely break ties with them."

"Fine, whatever." Stiles waves his arms as if clearing the air. "Back to why we're here. First Donovan, now Tracy. Let's get Lucas before he disappears, too. Then I guess someone should stay here in case the body snatcher comes back."

"I can do it," Theo says. "I've got nowhere better to be."

Liam frowns, thinking about how Theo had told him he no longer has a home.

Stiles squints at him, then rolls his eyes. "Fine." He stomps past everyone to head back out the door.

They follow him out and Stiles makes a disbelieving noise at the Jeep. It takes Liam a moment to understand what he's seeing, then he realizes that the back hatch is open. He _knows_ none of them opened it before going inside. They'd all been concentrating on Theo's presence. 

"No. No, no, no." Stiles mutters, scuttling around the Jeep to peer in the back. "Fuck!" He hits the frame.

Liam and the others join him even though they already know what they'll find when they look. The back of the Jeep is empty. Lucas's body is gone.

"What the actual fuck is going on here?" Stiles drags his fingers through his messy hair. "Who is doing this? Why?"

"Well, it can't be Theo," Liam says. "We were staring at him the whole time we were in there."

"And what a solid alibi that makes, doesn't it? Someone working with him could've grabbed the body." Stiles laughs, though it's strained. He's grasping at straws and he knows it.

"I've always worked alone and I've already told you that the Dread Doctors don't care about their failures."

"C'mon, Stiles." Scott lays a hand on his arm. "Let it go. You saw what they did. They killed Lucas and then left his body for us to deal with. Why would they want him now?"

"You're right, I know. I just-"

"You want it all to be wrapped up in a tidy little box where I'm to blame for all of the bad things that happen." Theo finishes for him. "I get it, man, but _this_ isn't me and I don’t have the first clue as to who it is."

Stiles tilts his head at him, then looks at Scott and Liam as well. "Well, clues would be good. Don't you all have super smell? Are you not getting any scent from the body snatcher?"

The other boys all glance at each other, chagrined, before dutifully sniffing the air in and around the Jeep. 

Liam grimaces and tries to filter through the metallic smell of blood and motor oil, of sweaty lacrosse equipment and stressed teenage boy. He's got nothing. "Sorry, Stiles. You know I'm not good at this yet."

"I'll be honest," Theo shrugs. "My expertise lies with chemosignals, not picking apart this many scent threads. I can tell you most of the emotions you've felt in the last few hours, but that's about it. The rest just hurts my nose."

"Sorry, man. I'm mostly just getting dead body and dirty socks," Scott tells Stiles.

"That's just great," Stiles sighs. "Fine. I guess this will be tomorrow's problem because I'm too freaking exhausted to try to think of anything else right now. Let's just get the hell out of here."

He closes the hatch and trudges toward the driver's door. Scott mutters something about locking up the clinic first and heads back toward the building. Liam starts to head for the Jeep, but stops to watch Theo open the driver's door to his truck.

He makes a split second decision. "Hey, Theo. Can I catch a ride with you?"

Stiles pokes his head out of his lowered window to stare at him but Liam ignores him in favor of watching Theo's reaction. The chimera pauses and looks at him, brow furrowed. "Why?"

Liam shrugs and tucks his hands into his pockets. "I live on the other side of town than Scott and Stiles. This would save Stiles a trip." It's technically the truth.

"Liam," Stiles tries, "dude, it's no big deal."

"It's fine," Theo climbs into the driver's seat. “I can take him home. Get some sleep if you can, Stiles." 

He closes the door and Liam scrambles around to the passenger side, calling out a "Goodnight! See you tomorrow!" at Stiles before climbing into the truck, settling in beside Theo. Theo doesn't say anything before pulling out of the alley and turning toward Liam's neighborhood.

"So why did you really want me to take you home?" Theo finally asks.

"I couldn't take the stench of Stiles's stress sweat anymore?" The chimera gives Liam a droll stare. Liam huffs. "Fine. I want to know why you're really helping us."

"Out of the goodness of my heart," Theo deadpans. Unlike Liam's, his heart doesn't skip at the lie.

"Sure. And I'm actually the one stealing bodies." Liam rolls his eyes. "Why are you helping us, Theo? Really?"

Theo heaves out a sigh and grips the steering wheel tightly. "Look. I may have come to realize the safety in numbers. Working with you instead of against you is my best shot at survival."

"So, that's it? You just want our protection against the Dread Doctors' mysterious endgame?" Liam crosses his arms over his chest, ignoring the subtle ache that bloomed there at Theo's words.

"Let me put it to you this way. I am tired." Theo glances over at him. "For the past eight years, I've survived by being useful to the Dread Doctors. The closer they get to their goal, the less they need me. I'm half surprised they haven't skewered me already. So, I’m going to do whatever I can to continue to live. And you guys… you guys were the first to actually care enough to ask me why and to offer to help."

Liam frowns, suddenly realizing how terribly lonely Theo must have been all those years. Before he can say anything, Theo continues. 

"Besides, it's probably Scott's absurd optimism or something equally obnoxious, but you're all starting to grow on me. I think I wouldn't be indifferent if any of you died."

Liam feels like he's missed a silent addendum, but he's too busy reeling from everything Theo just said out loud to really think about it. Theo resolutely keeps his eyes forward as Liam stares at him in shock. He doesn't even notice when the truck stops outside of his house.

"Liam, this is your house. Please get out of the truck." Theo dares to look at him.

That pulls Liam out of his stupor and he grins at the other boy. "You like us!"

"I did not say that."

"Doesn't matter, you totally do. You like my pack."

"That is not what I meant, Liam. Get out of my truck."

"Sure thing, Theo. But only because I'd hate for you to stop liking me so damn much." Liam unbuckles his seat belt and opens the door, laughing when Theo growls at him.

He plants his feet on the ground and starts to close the door, pausing to look at his house, then he turns back to Theo. "Hey, did you find a place to stay? We have a spare room you can crash in until you do."

Liam's chest aches again at the dumbfounded look on Theo's face before the other boy slips his mask back on. "No thanks. I've got a place to stay," he answers.

"Right. Okay, well, thanks for the ride. I'll see you later."

"Bye, Liam."

Liam shuts his door and watches Theo drive away.


	4. Chapter 4

Theo knows that Scott’s patience is going to be the death of him. The true alpha never goes straight for the answers, especially when he’s more than capable of getting them. All he needed to do was torture the information out of Theo. It would have taken time, maybe time they didn’t have, but everyone has a breaking point. Theo knew his own. But Scott was too good-natured, too willing to trust him, and that would be his downfall. 

He waits behind in the locker room one day after lunch, knowing that Scott needs to get a few things from his locker. When the alpha spots him, his eyes widen a fraction. “Theo.” He says, halting in his steps. 

“I’m not going to bite you,” he answers with a roll of his eyes. Looking a little embarrassed, Scott comes closer and shifts his backpack around in front of him. He pulls out a thick stack of printed papers clipped together at one corner and hands it over. 

“Does this look familiar to you?” He asks. 

“My copy was a little smaller, but yes.” Theo says honestly. Scott’s eyes widen even more and his scent sours. 

“You have a copy of this already?” He asks, disbelief coloring his tone. 

“Scott,” Theo deadpans, “who do you think left the copy for one of you to find? Tracy wasn’t reading that.” He scoffs a little, thumbing through the printed copy in his hands. “The Dread Doctors think it’s time that you know a little more about them. They asked me to plant this for you and your pack to find. They want you to read it.”

“Why? What happens when we read it?” Scott asks warily. 

“You’ll uncover more of the truth and their history. Understand that you can’t begin to understand what you’re stepping in.”

“Reading it doesn’t sound like a bad idea.” Scott hesitates and Theo chuckles to himself. 

“You guys do this a lot, don’t you?” He asks, already knowing the answer. “Getting yourselves involved in things that are over your head.”

“I guess.” Scott admits. “But we’ve gotta protect this town-“

“It’s not your responsibility. Any of you.” Theo cuts him off and shakes his head a little. 

“Are you going to help us or not? Read it with us?” Scott changes the subject, his discomfort clear, and Theo sighs. He knows that he has to read it, keep on his cover for the Dread Doctors not to grow suspicious, but he also knows how this thing fucks with a person’s head. It won’t trigger memories for him, but the nightmares will be a bitch and a half. 

“I’ll read it. But Scott, you’ve gotta figure out the rest for yourself.” He says honestly. “I’m putting my neck on the line for all of you. And you’re not exactly giving me much in return.”

“We can protect you from them.” Scott insists, running his hands along the straps of his backpack. “Make it so you don’t need them anymore.” If only it were that simple. Theo knows that Scott’s got his heart in the right place, the whole true alpha thing, but even he knows that this can’t just be cut and dry. 

“The author,” Theo says after a beat. 

“What?”

“If the author wrote all about the Dread Doctors, shouldn’t we be talking to him?” Theo asks. 

“We thought about that, but it’s pretty much a dead end.” He does his best not to roll his eyes again. Are they all this dumb? Sighing, he flips to the end of the book and taps his fingers against a name. 

“What about this guy?” 

“For providing scientific perspective and invaluable insight, this book is dedicated to Dr. Gabriel Valack.” Scott’s heart kicks up a notch and Theo sighs. 

“Eichen House,” Theo says before Scott can get his mouth open. “But Scott? You should know that that’s exactly where they want you to go. I don’t know what they’re planning, but it can’t be good.”

“We can’t just sit back and do nothing. We have to go see him and find out what he knows.”

“That’s what they’re counting on. And whatever you tell me next-“

“You’ll tell them.” Scott finishes. “Good. Then tell them that we’re going. We’ll go tonight.”

“You’re all going to die.” Theo tells him with a sigh. “But hey, it’s your funeral.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” The smile Scott puts on is strained. “What will you do in the meantime?” He asks. 

“Has anyone else read this yet?” Theo lifts the book up a little. 

“Malia.”

“Then I’m going to keep an eye on her. It’s not going to hurt her,” he adds as Scott’s jaw tenses, “but it brings out some powerful memories. You don’t want her shifting on anyone if she’s caught off-guard. So you and your pack go play detective while I keep an eye on the coyote.”

“Thank you.” The words jar him for a moment and he blinks several times, unable to form a response. Clapping a hand on his shoulder, Scott leaves him to his thoughts in the locker room. Things are starting to get a little too personal between them. Fuck. 

-

“I don’t know why we have to do this in the middle of the night.” Liam complains loudly as they reach the animal clinic. The car crawls to a halt and two pairs of eyes turn to look at him from the front. 

“It’s like 8pm,” Mason says. 

“Still dark out,” he grumbles. 

“I couldn’t ditch lacrosse practice for this.” Brett reminds for the third time since they’d picked him up. 

“I know, you’d lose your scholarship.” Liam’s shoulders slump a little. As much as Brett annoys him, he doesn’t want the guy getting kicked out of school. “How’s your stomach doing?”

“All healed up, but still a little tender.” The beta says, opening his car door and getting out. “You said the body was taken from out here?”

“One body from inside and one from Stiles’s Jeep.” Liam follows suit and takes a deep breath, letting his eyes shift. Technically, they aren’t supposed to be doing this. Scott had asked them not to go to Eichen and instead focus on school and other things for the night. Mason was the one who’d suggested they spend their evening looking for the dead bodies. He’d also been the one to suggest inviting Brett along, arguing that a born werewolf could probably sense more things than a bitten one. While Liam wasn’t overly keen on the idea, he knew that Mason had a point. Brett probably knew all about honing his senses, he’d been a werewolf longer than anyone in the pack.

“So, how does this work? Do you guys need to, like, tune in to the moon and shift or something?” Mason asks, closing the driver’s side door. 

“Not exactly. But I need you to go stand over there, the breeze keeps crossing your scent and it’s harder to discern things.” Brett murmurs, slowly walking a circle as he sniffs the air. 

“That’s because he put on a thousand gallons of cologne.” Liam grins, eagerly throwing his best friend under the bus about his crush. As Mason glares daggers, Brett lets out a warm laugh. 

“I can smell your pack,” Brett says after a beat. “Usually, scents like this would fade after a day or two. But you guys are here a lot.” He sniffs again and tilts his head. “There was definitely a dead body here last night. But there’s something else.” Bending down, he brushes his fingers along the ground a few times. 

“What’s he doing?” Mason whispers, as though Brett can’t hear him. Shrugging one shoulder, Liam watches and tilts his head. Brett repeats the gesture a few times before he pauses, lifting his fingers with a frown. 

“What is it?” He asks, stepping forward. “Whose scent is it?”

“Doesn’t smell like a person,” Brett answers as he rubs his fingers together. “But it smells like ash.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.” Liam says, but Brett’s already standing and moving back toward the car. “Hey, where are you going?”

“You said one of the bodies was taken from your school, right? Let’s check there for other clues. And I need to check a locker.” He answers, bracing his forearms on top of the car and leaning against it. 

“A locker?”

“I told you I’d help, but I’ve got something of my own to track.”

“Josh,” Mason says softly. Liam winces. He’d disappeared into thin air after the fight with Lucas at Sinema. No one has said it out loud, but they all suspect the Dread Doctors. If Tracy and the others are any indication, it’s just a matter of time before Josh loses control and starts attacking innocent people. A small part of Liam hopes the other boy hasn’t been experimented on yet, but he knows that’s not realistic to believe. Still, no one deserves that. 

“I have to try.” Brett says solemnly. 

“I know you do.” Grimacing a little, Liam goes up to the car and lightly bumps his shoulder into Brett. “Get in. Mason-“

“I’m all in,” his best friend says. “Locating bodies and saving people? It’s the right thing to do.”

“Thank you. Both of you,” Brett says before climbing back inside the car. Liam and Mason share a look before they follow suit. 

“So, ash.” Liam says, opening the notes on his phone and jotting that down. “Great. We’ve learned one thing so far.” He tries to sound a little optimistic, but he can’t fake it. It still feels like nothing. He hopes Scott and the others are gaining a little more information from Valack at Eichen. 

-

The library feels like the most boring place in the world. Of all people, Malia is the last person Theo expects to be spending her evening in one. But she is. As a result, so is he. True to his word, he’s doing what he can to keep an eye on the coyote. So far, it consists of watching her scowl at her homework. 

He’s tired of watching from the shadows. It’s annoying sitting on the periphery, trying to keep an eye on her. He can’t actually focus on his own assignments when every noise has him looking up to inspect what’s happening. Ever since he’d agreed to help the pack with the Dread Doctors, he’s been on edge. 

Collecting his pre-calculus book, he approaches Malia’s table and sits down across from her. “Page turner?” He asks, nodding at her book. She glances at her poised highlighter and then back at him, frowning. 

“Not exactly.” She says, the suspicion clear in her voice. 

“Neither is this.” Holding up his book, he offers her a smirk and feels the air shift between them. Her restless nature and suspicions seem to slide from her face after a moment. As he opens his notes, she straightens up a little and opens her mouth. The words seem stuck on her tongue and he sighs, leaning back in his chair. “Ask away.”

“Scott told me you’re a chimera. What kind?” She asks. 

“He didn’t tell you?” Now  _ that _ feels like an interesting development.

“He said I should ask you myself.”

“I’m a werewolf,” Theo tells her, “but I’m also a coyote. It’s why you trust me so easily.”

“I do not.”

“Yeah, you kind of do. You don’t want to, but you settle more easily when I’m near. It’s a coyote thing.” He explains. 

“Why’d they choose that?”

“I don’t know. Probably thought it would be easier to splice together two similar creatures and have a success. And I was,” Theo says. “I  _ am.  _ But they’ve decided to broaden their horizons over the years and none have ever been successful since.”

“Because you kill them all,” she says flatly. Theo snorts at that, shaking his head. 

“Because they start to lose control and die. The doctors just kill them off more quickly than their natural deaths. Or unnatural,” he corrects as he thinks of the mercurial blood that poisons them all. 

“Like Tracy. She could have been saved-“

“No. She was dying. They just sped up the process.” Theo sighs. Malia’s throat bobs and she abruptly shakes her head, standing and shoving things into her bag. “Need a ride?”

“I can take the bus.” She answers quickly. Her heart is racing and Theo can smell her frustration. 

“Last one left an hour ago.” The frustration builds. 

“I’ll walk.” There’s an edge of fear that seems uncharacteristic, but he brushes it off. He can’t blame her for being afraid of the dark. She’s seen the doctors and what they can do. Walking is out of the question and they both know it. 

“Haven’t I seen you coming out of Driver’s Ed?” He asks, leaning back further in his chair. 

“I hope not,” she says with a quiet huff. 

“Pretty sure I saw you destroy a couple traffic cones the other day. And nearly take out a sophomore,” he adds with a smirk. 

“The sophomore shouldn’t have been standing there.” She returns, a hint of a smile on her lips. He almost laughs and digs his keys from his pocket, holding them out like a peace offering between them. 

“Sounds like you could still use some practice.” Her eyes widen a little and then narrow, scanning his face for any signs of deception. He lets her read him and tosses the keys, watching her smirk and curl her fingers around them. 

“Why are you doing this?” A fair question. 

“Because you can’t always rely on public transportation and you’re too nervous to walk. I told Scott I’d help out in any way I could. And if this counts, then that just helps my case of wanting to be in the pack.”

“You’ll never be pack,” she warns. 

“Not yet, but just give me time.” Smirking, he gathers his books and gets up. The pair of them make their way out of the library and as they reach the parking lot, the smile slips from his lips. “What are you three doing here?” He asks as Brett, Liam, and Mason step onto the sidewalk. “Shouldn’t you be doing homework or something?”

“We’re investigating.” Mason responds. “Looking for clues about-“

“Don’t worry about it.” Liam quickly covers his best friend’s mouth. “Where are you guys going?”

“I’m giving Malia a driving lesson.” Theo says. Whatever these morons are up to, he wants no part in. For one night, he wants to pretend that some of this isn’t happening and stop having to watch his every move. 

“Does Scott know about this?” Malia asks, scrunching her nose a little. 

“We’re here to do some research in the library.” Brett rolls his eyes. “Trying to figure out what Lucas might be.” He’s actually not a bad liar, Theo thinks to himself. He’d be a good ally to have. If shit hits the fan with Scott’s pack, maybe he can make a different alliance. Satomi’s one of the oldest werewolves still out there. Her pack must be pretty strong. 

“Whatever.” Malia says, already starting to walk again. Theo catches up quickly and guides her to his truck. “Do you believe those three?” She asks, turning to him. 

“No, but what kind of trouble can they get into in the library?” Theo raises a brow. Her head tilts in consideration before she nods, climbing in and taking a breath. He buckles himself in and guides her through the motions of checking her mirrors and adjusting the seat before she starts the engine. 

“You know this could very well be the funeral of your truck,” she warns him. 

“I think I’ve got good enough reflexes to stop you.” Smirking, he points out what to do step by step and hums as she creeps out of his parking spot. It’s a little jerky as they get to the main road, her stopping and starting every few seconds, and her anxiety reeks all over the cab of his truck. 

When she’s on the straight road, she starts to do better. Her hands clutch the wheel at ten and two, eyes focused ahead of them, and he glanced at the gauge to know they are going  _ exactly _ the speed limit. “We can go a little faster,” he chuckles, “if you want.”

“I’m doing the speed limit.” Her eyes start to shift toward him, but she abandons the movement last second. Turning his head toward her, he rolls his eyes. 

“Nobody does the speed limit. You also don’t have to hold the wheel like that.” He says. Her fingers tighten and he sees the tension build in her arms. “Malia,” he says before leaning over and resting a hand over hers. “Put your hand here,” he instructs before dragging it further down. “Better?” He asks when she looks over at him. 

“If this is your attempt at flirting, it’s not going to work.” She says. He can’t help but laugh at that, grinning. 

“You’re not exactly my type, don’t worry.” He tells her. There’s silence for a moment and then she speaks again. 

“Who taught you how to drive?” 

“Myself. I spent hours and hours reading manuals and watching clips from Driver’s Ed classes when I turned fourteen. I wasn’t old enough to drive, but the Dread Doctors needed extra help with all the bodies they dropped. So I learned.” He murmurs, turning to look out the window. For a moment, the cab is silent. Then the speed begins to pick up and he hears the engine. “Okay, I said a little faster. Not Mach five,” he says as he looks over. Malia’s got an iron grip at the top of the steering wheel and the mile gauge is passing seventy. 

“Malia, you okay?” He straightens up, heartbeat kicking up a notch. Has he misread the situation? Her foot presses down harder on the gas and he tenses.  _ Shit.  _ This situation isn’t about him. Whatever memory is coming from the book, it’s happening  _ now.  _

“Malia, slow down.” He lurches forward for the wheel, but she jerks them across the road from one lane to the next. The force tosses him back against the window and he groans, pain vibrating through his skull. “Malia, stop. Stop the car. Stop the car!” It feels like a red light has hit her all at once. She hits the brakes and seems to snap out of it, throwing the car in park before she stumbles from the truck. They’re parked haphazardly across the road and he steals a glance in his rear view, relieved no one is coming from behind. 

“Malia!” He unbuckles himself and comes around the back of the truck as she hits her knees in the middle of the road, her breathing erratic. “Malia? Malia?” He repeats her name a few times, taking a few steps closer. She doesn’t budge. A car comes around the corner ahead of them and he swears through his teeth. “Malia, come on, get up.” He says as he kneels down and grips her shoulder. The car lays on the horn and he hooks an arm around her waist, throwing them both out of the way seconds before the car speeds past. With both arms wrapped around her, they land in front of his truck and he grunts. She’s shaking in his arms, panicked breaths spilling out, and her heart is racing. 

“It was her,” she whispers. 

“What?”

“It was her. She was there.” She insists. 

“Who?”

“The Desert Wolf.” Theo’s stomach twists a little at the name. Ah. So she’s remembering something about her mother. 

“What do you mean?” He asks, letting go of her so they can both get to their feet. 

“She-She was shooting at us. My mom and my sister and me.” Malia chokes and Theo’s nose twitches from the salt of her tears. 

“Come on,” he says softly. Guiding her back to his truck, he gets her in the passenger seat and frowns. She doesn’t speak another word and he doesn’t press, driving her home. Malia knows the truth now. What she does with that isn’t up to him.


	5. Chapter 5

When Scott falls into step with him before school starts, Theo doesn’t say anything. He waits for the true alpha to speak, stopping along the second floor walkway. Leaning his forearms against the railing, he waits for Scott to let him know what’s on his mind. Whatever it is, he’s clearly stewing over it. “Scott,” he finally says. “What do you want to say?”

“There are more chimeras running around Beacon Hills. Half a dozen, maybe more.” He finally says. Theo can smell his anxiety and he turns his head to subtly take a breath of fresh air. 

“This isn’t exactly news.” He points out. 

“Except it is. Fresh holes sprang up on the lacrosse field last night. We can’t use it until it’s been repaired.” Scott says, wrapping his fingers around the railing as they scan the courtyard. He’s got his copy of  _ The Dread Doctors _ clenched between his fingers. “I’m not even sure what we should be looking for. Abnormal behavior?”

“What does that even entail?” Theo murmurs. 

“Anyone acting off or a little weird.”

“Isn’t everyone a little weird in high school?” Theo cranes his head back to look at Scott, sighing as his expression drops. 

“Yeah, good point.” He sighs a little and Theo takes pity on him. 

“They will all have something in common,” he says after a moment. “Some kind of genetic marker.”

“How do you-oh. Right.” Scott says belatedly. “Can I ask-“

“How long I’ve been a chimera?” He smiles bitterly and nods his head. “Almost ten years. But that’s a story for a different day. How far along are you in the book?” Pushing off the rail, he starts down the steps and Scott follows quickly. 

“Is it a bad idea to be reading this?” Scott asks bluntly. 

“I think Malia almost getting run down by a car could’ve been bad.” Theo answers. He knows exactly how tight those memories can grip a person. How dangerous they are. “That’s why you’re guys haven’t finished it right?”

“We’re going to.” Scott says softly. 

“Scott, I came here hoping to find a pack. I wasn’t planning on watching one fall apart. Especially not when said pack promised to protect me during this shit show.” 

“Maybe we wouldn’t be if you would just be straight with us.” Scott says, coming to an abrupt halt. Rolling his eyes, Theo turns back to him. “This book is all that we’ve got. Unless you’re suddenly going to tell us everything?”

“The more I tell you, the more danger we are put in.  _ All _ of us.” He stresses, running his tongue over his teeth. “They’re not going to stop, Scott.”

“So side with us and tell us everything.”

“I can’t.” Theo clenches his fingers against his side. He wants to, a part of him really does, but he’s terrified of what those bastards can do to him. They made him what he is and they have no problem putting the failures six feet under a second time. What’s to stop them from doing the same to Theo when he’s stopped being useful? “I’m sorry.”

“Can you at least help with the book?” Scott whispers. 

“I’ll read it with you. And the pack,” Theo replies calmly. “But that’s all I can do. I can watch you as you uncover your memories. But don’t expect much else,” he tells him point blank. There’s only so much he can do before the Dread Doctors will be onto him. 

“We’ll take all the help we can get.” Scott shoots him a hesitant smile and Theo almost returns it. 

“You just need someone to keep you guys focused on the book. That’s why you don’t want to finish it - you’re stalling. I know Tracy went on a killing spree, but it had nothing to do with the book. I planted it there for you to find.”

“Did you know what the Dread Doctors wanted with Valack? Or that Kira would disrupt the wards at Eichen?” 

“No. I know they took Valack’s third eye, but I don’t know why. They tend to keep their plans to themselves when it doesn’t involve me,” Theo says while pushing his hands into his pockets. “I had no idea about Kira, either. If I had known, I would have suggested that she stay behind.”

“Why?”

“Because whatever they wanted from Valack, it just puts them one step closer to their end goal and finding out who their success is. I don’t want to find out what is capable of any more than you. They can’t control any of the experiments. And if this thing is more powerful? Imagine that unleashed on this town. There would be no survivors.” Theo says honestly. 

“You said they’re choosing teenagers because of a genetic marker, right?”

“No. I said the teens all have something in common by genetic marker. They’re choosing teens because just like with a werewolf bite, they’re more susceptible to survive a transformation. But into what? I really don’t know.” He frees one hand to pinch the bridge of his nose, sighing. “Look. Just get the pack together at your house tonight. I’ll make sure you all read the damn book and finish it.”

“Can you tell us the ending?” Scott asks, holding his gaze. 

“No,” Theo laughs bitterly, “because you’re living it.”

-

That evening, Theo knocks on Scott’s door and the alpha opens it to reveal the rest of the pack waiting in the living room, well most of the pack. “Where are Liam and Mason? They should probably read this too.”

“Liam said something about needing to pay Hayden? I don’t know. And I think Mason went with him just so he could have an excuse to go to the club,” Stiles answers.

Theo sighs. “Fine. I’ll make sure they read it later.”

Everyone gathers around the coffee table, looking at their copies of the book spread out across its surface. 

"My mother's book club usually had more wine," Lydia comments.

"Well, they also probably didn't read books that cause violent hallucinations," Stiles says sarcastically. . 

Scott looks up. "That's why Malia's here. And Theo."

"So none of us go running into traffic." Kira looks skeptical. 

"Or worse," Scott points out. 

"Like what happened to Judy," Malia says. Theo snorts but everyone else looks over at her. "Chapter fourteen."

"Judy runs right off a cliff while 'hallucinating' that the Dread Doctors are after her to kill her," Theo clarifies. "Spoiler alert: it wasn't a hallucination."

"Great," Stiles sighs.

Lydia bends down and pick up the original copy. "Maybe I should have my mother read it. Maybe she'll remember a girl with a tail leaking off the ceiling and attacking everyone."

"Right, if it works," Stiles says.

"Well, it doesn't work on willful ignorance." Theo shrugs. Everyone looks at him. "What? The Dread Doctors don't care enough about her to scramble her brain. If she says she doesn't remember, she's internalized it or she's lying to you and herself."

"Whatever. It has to work for us." Lydia stares at the book.

"What does that mean?" Scott asks. 

"I think I saw them during my surgery," she answers. "When I look at the cover of the book, it's almost like…"

"A memory trying to resurface." Theo finishes for her.

Lydia confirms, "Yeah."

"Isn't that what Valack wanted when he wrote it?" Kira asks. 

"If they did something to me," Lydia looks determined. "I wanna know what it is." She marches over to the armchair and sits before finding her place.

Everyone else grabs a copy and scatters around the room. Stiles pauses as he passes the armchair Theo sat in. "Do you know if they've fucked with any of us?"

Theo resists the urge to look at Kira, remembering the sight of the thin lightning rod pressed into her tear duct and the powerful bolt of lightning the Dread Doctors had injected her with. As far as he knows, no one else has been touched. "I'm not with them 24/7, so I can't tell you for certain. But the memories triggered by the book will tell you what you need to know."

"Will this thing even affect you?"

"Not the same way. None of my trauma is repressed. Can't be when you re-live it every day." Theo shrugs. 

Stiles just squints at him before moving on to sit at the kitchen table. Theo sits back and sighs, flipping over the first page. Ugh, this book really is awful.

Hours pass and he feels the familiar dread settling on his shoulders as he reaches the middle of the story. The nightmares are going to be particularly brutal for the next week or so.  _ Can't fucking wait. _

His jaw practically breaks when he yawns as he reads about Judy turning away from the twisted remains of the creature that had once been her friend as a wail escapes her lips. He turns the page then looks up just in time to see Kira frowning down at her papers in confusion. 

Before he can ask what's wrong, Scott sighs. "Does anyone feel anything?"

"Tired," Kira mutters.

"Hungry," Lydia adds.

Theo puts on an innocent tone. "I think he meant the book.” The girls both glare at him. He bites the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing.

"I'll find some snacks," Malia says from the kitchen. "And make coffee." It won't actually affect most of them, but the psychological effect would be helpful.

"A goddess among men," Stiles murmurs, stretching until something cracks.

She digs out a box of granola bars and sets it on the coffee table. They stare at the sad box for a moment before Theo sighs. "I'll call for pizza."

Everyone makes relieved noises and he confirms that a few pepperonis would be fine before stepping out to make the order. When he gets back, he settles back in his chair as Malia starts to grab coffee mugs from the cabinet.

She pauses her pouring of coffee and asks, "How bad does it hurt?" 

Theo looks back to see Stiles rubbing his shoulder where Donovan had bitten him. "It just… aches. The bite itself is healing alright, but the muscle feels bruised all over."

"It's the venom," Theo comments. Everyone looks at him and he shrugs. "I'm sure it was diluted since it wasn't coming directly from the source like it would have if he'd used his actual teeth, but wendigo venom is meant to slow prey down, not to paralyze. They like the hunt. A few wendigos never fully eat flesh, they survive on the blood of humans and creatures they take as lovers, using their venom as a type of aphrodisiac and creating harems. They're where the vampire myth came from. Well, those and strigoi."

"I don't remember reading that in the bestiary," Kira stares at him, eyes wide.

Theo shrugs again. "The Dread Doctors have all kinds of books and research papers lying around."

"Wow, okay, sure." Stiles grabs one of the mugs Malia had already filled and grimaces as he takes a sip of the dark, bitter liquid before dragging the sugar jar toward him and dumping several large spoonfuls in. He turns to Malia. "Hey, so, how much do you remember, anyway? With the accident? Did it play like a movie in your head, or was it like being completely in it again?"

Malia pauses, then says, "In it."

"Was it just the crash? Nothing else?"

Malia glances up at Theo. Theo gives her a slight nod. "I saw the Desert Wolf. She… she was shooting at the car. That's why we crashed, why I-" She stares down at her hands.

"Hey," Stiles stands up and hugs her. "We don't have to talk about it now."

"What does the Desert Wolf have to do with the Dread Doctors?" Lydia asks. "I thought this book was supposed to trigger memories of them."

Theo sighs. "It triggers your most traumatic repressed memories. Being operated on by the Dread Doctors is pretty fucking traumatic, so if you've encountered them, that's what you'll remember. If you haven't, it'll shake something else loose."

"Well, that's just great," Stiles grumbles and flips to the next page.

The pizzas arrive and the teens fall on them like sharks to chum. When the last piece has been devoured, everyone turns back to their books. After a few minutes, though, Kira sighs in frustration and dogears her page and leans back in her seat.

"You're not giving up, are you?" Scott asks her.

"Just resting my eyes." She reaches up and turns off the lamp beside her before settling back down. She's asleep within a few minutes. Scott sighs and carries her up to his room. 

One by one the pack members finish their copies of the book. Lydia curls up in the large recliner she’d been reading in. Malia and Stiles are pressed together on the couch. When Scott finally sighs and closes the book, he nods at Theo to follow him to the kitchen.

When they get there, Scott asks, “Are you sure you’ll be fine tonight? You could stay, too, if you need to.” Everyone but Theo had agreed to stay the night just in case the effects of the book hit them right away. 

“I’ll be fine. I won’t be getting any restful sleep for the next few days, but I’m not going to hallucinate anything.” Theo shrugs. “You guys should be fine, too. Something’s gotta trip the trigger and I doubt that’ll happen here.”

Scott sighs and nods. “Okay, fine. But… call me if it ends up being worse than you thought. You shouldn’t have to be alone through it either.”

Something weird happens in Theo’s chest at the alpha’s eager tone. “Ah, thanks. I’ll do that.”

“‘Kay.” Scott's phone chimes in his pocket and he grabs it quickly to answer it. Theo sees that it's his mom. “I'm gonna take this out back. Night, Theo.”

“Yeah. Goodnight, Scott.”

He watches Scott disappear through the door to the back porch before patting his pockets for his keys and heading toward the door. Before he can reach it, whispering from upstairs catches his attention. He tilts his head and listens to Kira as she whispers something he can’t quite catch. Theo makes his way up the stairs and down the hall to hear better and realizes she’s speaking Japanese. He’s pretty sure it’s the same thing she said right before she almost killed Lucas at the club. He enters Scott's room and sees her laying back with her brows drawn, whispering the same phrase over and over.

Theo grimaces, a phantom voice in the back of his mind saying  _ her condition worsens.  _ He rolls his eyes at his own dramatic thoughts. She’s not a chimera, but the Dread Doctors fucked up a perfectly good juvenile kitsune. He sighs, digging his phone out of his pocket. If he’s going to help the pack help themselves, they should at least know what she’s saying. He records the repeating whispers for a minute, then leaves before Scott comes up and sees him. 

He'll figure out what she's saying and feed them the information they need to know when they need to know it. 

-

Liam and Mason make their way toward the library. They share the same free period with Kira, so they figure they can ask her for a copy of the book everyone else read the night before. They find Kira between the stacks holding at the book in her hands. 

"Not into sci-fi?" Mason asks at the same time Liam says, "That's the book, isn't it? I thought you guys were supposed to finish reading it last night."

Kira winces. "Yeah... I kind of... haven't, yet." Before Liam can say anything, she [something] "I don't know what's wrong with me. I mean, I can't... I can barely read it."

Mason slaps Liam on the shoulder and sits beside Kira. "Okay, uh, this is gonna sound weird, but... Do you speak Japanese?"

"No," she answers adamantly. "I'm also half-Korean, and I don't speak Korean. And I'm pushing a C-average in English."

"But," Liam says, confused. "You spoke Japanese at the club when you almost killed Lucas."

"I did?"

Mason clears his throat. "You did. But I've been doing some reading on Kitsunes."

"How come?" Kira asks. 

"'Cause I met one?"

"Oh. Right."

Liam snorts. "He says that like he didn't read every mythology book he could get his hands on before I outed myself as a werewolf."

"Not the point, Liam." Mason turns back to Kira. "Do you know why people in Japan answer the phone 'Moshi moshi?'"

"Because 'moshi' means 'hello'."

He nods. "Yeah, but there's a reason you have to say it twice on the phone-- because, according to Japanese folklore, Fox spirits have difficulty with language. And the way that you prove that you're not a fox when you answer the phone, you say 'moshi' twice. The important part is 'Moshi moshi' confuses Kitsunes because it's a language trick. So is the book. You know, it's just one long language trick."

"That's why I can't read it?" Kira asks.

"It's affecting the Fox part of you, confusing it."

Before anyone can say anything else, the lights flicker. Kira looks up at them, eyes wide. "I swear that wasn't me."

"It's been happening all day, so I don't think it's you," Liam reassures her. "Hey, I gotta get to practice, but do you happen to have a spare copy or two of the book? Theo practically knocked our heads together this morning for bailing last night. So we need something to read."

"Oh! Yeah, here." Kira grabs a printed copy from her bag and hands it to Liam. "I thought that maybe I couldn't read it because of the format, so I was trying with the actual book. As you know, the results were the same. But at least now I know why. Thanks, Mason."

"It's literally no problem." He pats her on the shoulder then stands up. "I'll keep searching to see if I can find a way around the trick, but maybe you can ask your mom? She's 900 years old, surely she's got a trick or two of her own."

"That's… not the worst idea. Thanks again."

Mason grins at her then takes the papers from Liam. "I'll copy these. You go before you're late."

"Thanks, Mase!" Liam squeezes the back of his neck before dashing out of the library and towards the locker room. Once he finishes changing out, he makes his way toward the football field. 

Goddamn Dread Doctors digging up the lacrosse field. The football turf doesn't feel right and Liam hates it. He sighs when he sees that the girls' soccer team, which includes Hayden, is also practicing on the field. This is going to be a long afternoon. 

She'd still been pretty hostile to him when he'd taken her the forty-three toward the two hundred he owes her, but he's determined to pay her back. Who knows, maybe by the time he does she'll hate him a little less. 

-

Theo couldn’t explain if someone held a gun to his head exactly why he was sitting on the bleachers of the football field.  _ To protect Liam,  _ his mind whispers and he shoves that thought down immediately. Liam’s not in any danger. If he’d been wanted by the Dread Doctors, they would have taken him already. They’ve had plenty of chances and they haven’t touched him or the rest of his pack. He doesn’t carry the genetic marker, but Theo already knows that. He’s been through his medical files a dozen times just to be safe. 

He flicks his gaze up as someone else steps onto the bleachers, brow furrowing as Mason and Brett join him. “What are you doing here? Don’t you have school?” He cocks a brow at Brett. 

“Free period.” Brett says, dropping down his duffel bag. “Mason and I were trying to narrow down a list of chimeras and their attributes. Want to help?”

“Sure,” Theo murmurs. 

“I was just asking him if anyone at Devenford was experiencing any erratic behavior,” Mason explains. 

“Everyone at Devenford is pretty abnormal to me,” Brett says. “Lots of other supernatural around that I can barely begin to identify.”

“Leshy, naguals, a strigoi exchange student, and plenty of coyotes, wolves, and a few rakshasa to go around.” Theo ticks off. When they both give him a look, he shrugs one shoulder. “I did my research before we set up in this town. Know your enemy and all that.”

“He’s got personnel files on all of us. Kinda creepy,” Mason explains in a hushed whisper to Brett. 

“I can still hear you,” Theo snorts. 

“You’ve got a file on me?” Brett raises a brow. “Why?”

“Because you’re aligned with Scott’s pack. Brett Talbot, 17, with a little sister named Lori Rohr. You have your father’s name and she took her mother’s maiden name after your parents were torched in a fire when you were kids. Born werewolves and you’re the second-in-command in Satomi’s pack. You’ve got a scholarship that allows you to attend Devenford Prep, but you nearly lost it last year after you bitched out Liam on the field and fought. You did community service, which you just finished last month, and were benched for a good chunk of your lacrosse season. And you’re cousins to the Hale family.” Theo rattles off fact after fact as they come to mind. “Is that enough or do you want to know your blood type, height, and the size of your-“

“Nope, I’m good.” Brett’s cheeks flush with color and Mason’s eyes widen. Smirking wickedly, Theo leans in to whisper conspiratorially to Mason. 

“It’s bigger than you’re thinking, trust me.” He teases, grinning as Mason’s arousal spices the air around them. 

“What else is there to look for?” Mason squeaks, looking mortified. “In the chimeras,” he adds when Brett gives him a look. “There’s heightened strength,” he ticks off on one finger, “smell, hearing, speed…”

“Uh, able to see in the dark.” Brett says once he collects himself from his embarrassment. 

“Glowing eyes,” Mason comments. 

“Eyes that reflect the light,” Brett adds. The air between them relaxes a little, though Theo can still smell the undercurrent of arousal. 

“Visible scorpion stingers protruding out of limbs?” Mason laughs in disbelief. 

“Yeah,” Brett scoffs, “or three-foot lizard tails.” They both laugh a little and Theo hums. 

“They’re all spliced together from different parts. Teeth of a wendigo, claws of a garuda, wings of a fae…” He trails off, shaking his head. Their screams continue to echo in his head. If he wasn’t so used to the nightmares, he thinks they could drive him mad. Hell, maybe they already have. 

He shifts his attention to the field where Liam is showing off, glancing over his shoulder every so often at Hayden. The pair are trying to outdo each other and for a moment, envy stabs at him. He sees Brett shift from the corner of his eye and clamps down hard on his chemosignals, nostrils flaring. Now isn’t the time to dwell on something insignificant in the grand scheme of things. But his inner wolf rises to the surface, wanting to drag its tongue across Liam’s sweat soaked skin and lay claim with a powerful bite. 

“What’s up with those two?” Brett asks, nodding toward the field. 

“Sixth grade,” Mason huffs a fond laugh. “That was not the best year for Liam’s anger management.” Theo perks up in interest at the mention of his IED and catches a whiff of guilt from Brett. “There was this fight in the hallways,” he continues. Pulling his phone out, he opens a digital copy of a yearbook and Theo frowns a little. 

“Why the hell do you have that?” He asks. 

“When Hayden showed up in our history class at the beginning of the year, I had to explain the feud to Scott and Stiles. Easiest way was to show them pictures.” Grinning, he turns his phone. “Liam and this other guy were fighting. Hayden sort of accidentally walked into it. And this is her yearbook photo.” He taps the screen twice and a picture blows up of a much younger Hayden, smiling at the camera. She’s got two black eyes and a bandage covering her nose. Brett winces in sympathy. 

“Ah, damn.” The beta says. 

“Yeah,” Mason chuckles. 

“Ow. What did she do to him?” Brett asks. With a swipe of his finger, Mason reveals the photo of Liam who looks the same as Hayden, except he’s clearly pouting at the camera. The three break out into chuckles and Theo feels a strange fluttering in his chest. 

“So is this their weird version of flirting?” Brett asks. 

“Oh god, no.” Mason laughs again and something settles in Theo. “He’s bisexual, but he’s not into her like that. They just bring out the competitive nature in each other-“

“Does anyone here have asthma?! Anyone got an inhaler?!” Theo snaps his head around at the familiar voice, going still as Brett’s breath hitches behind him. 

“Josh?” He croaks out, heart racing. In the blink of an eye, everyone on the field is moving. One of the soccer players is digging out his inhaler, passing it off to Liam, and Theo watches for a moment longer as the beta runs to the school. Good. He’s got this.

He turns his head, but Brett is already moving down the bleachers and running onto the field. Theo watches as he grabs Josh’s forearms, looking him over intently before he pulls him into a crushing hug. They cling to each other and, beside him, Mason sighs. 

“I know I shouldn’t be disappointed. Like, I’m glad he’s found Josh and all. He seems like a really good guy.” He says quietly. “But is it wrong of me to wish they weren’t...you know?”

“You like him,” Theo states calmly. “Nothing wrong with that. You want my advice?”

“You give dating advice?” 

“Wait for someone who looks at you like that. Like you’re their world.” Theo tells him, glancing over. “I don’t date, but I’ve watched people do it. I know what to look for.” Dating has always seemed like such a waste of time. Not because he isn’t interested - he’s a fucking teenage boy for crying out loud - but because he always knew he’d have to leave whoever he tried to attach himself to. That kind of pain never seemed worth it. But if they survive this plan and his inevitable betrayal of the Dread Doctors, maybe he and a certain blue-eyed beta can give it a try.

There’s a growl in the distance, one he recognized as Liam’s, and he finally focuses on what’s happening in the school.  _ Scott.  _ “I need to go check on something. You good out here?” He asks, already rising to his feet. 

“Yeah. Thanks, Theo.” It’s the second time he’s been thanked in the last few days. He’s not sure how to feel about that. He retreats to the school and finds Liam getting Scott to his feet in their AP Biology classroom. 

“I’ll take him,” he offers while Liam gets an arm around his waist. 

“He needs to go to the hospital,” their teacher insists. 

“And I’ll drive him there.” Theo promises, though he intends no such thing. Together, he and Liam walk Scott to the locker room. It’s blissfully empty, everyone returning to their afternoon practices, and they ease Scott down onto a bench. “You should go check on Mason,” Theo tells Liam. 

“Why?” Liam asks, already crossing his arms over his chest in defiance.

“Because this has to do with the book, which you two still need to read.” Theo rolls his eyes. “Or go back to your practice, I don’t care what you do. Just let me talk to Scott.”

“Please, Liam.” Scott says softly, drawing their attention. He’s thumbing the inhaler between his fingers, not looking at them. 

“I can help-“

“You already have,” Theo gently tells him. “Go check on your friend. And Brett and Josh. Find out if Josh remembers anything. It’s important,” he stresses. If they can neutralize Josh before he turns into a threat, then maybe they’ll be a step ahead for a change. 

“Fine,” Liam bites out, “but I won’t like it.”

“Didn’t ask you to.” The corner of his mouth lifts into a smirk and the younger boy rolls his eyes, storming from the locker room. Shaking his head, he glances back at Scott. “You gonna be okay?”

“Yeah. Um...I think it was just the memory hitting me. Psychosomatic thing.” He says. Theo nods and turns, fiddling with his locker and opening it to keep himself busy. As he pulls out his bag, Scott clears his throat. “Did you want to talk about something else?”

“Last night, after you guys all fell asleep, I went upstairs to check on Kira.” He says, moving over to the bench Scott is on and straddling it. She was sleeping, but…”

“You heard her speaking Japanese?” Scott’s expression morphs to concern and Theo resists the urge to roll his eyes. They’d both seen her transform at Sinema and nearly kill Lucas. This shouldn’t be so shocking. 

“I didn’t just hear it,” he tells him. Pulling out his phone, he opens his notes app and plays it. Scott leans toward it, brows furrowing in concentration. 

“That’s what she said at the club,” Scott reminds him. 

“I was there,” he reminds as he shows his eye roll. Scott looks a little sheepish. “I found a website that can translate it. It means, roughly, ‘I am the messenger of death.’ Does it get worse?” He asks. 

“Uh...yeah.” Scott hesitates for a moment before he bows his head, nodding. “Something...something’s happening to her. She’s got this aura around her. It’s hard to explain. Um...it’s supposed to be part of her, but now it looks different. Like...almost like it’s taking over. I don’t know. Something’s happening. And to be honest? I don’t know if I can trust her anymore.”

“It’s not her fault-“ Theo starts. The lights above them flicker and they share a look.  _ Later, _ he tells himself. He can tell them about what the Dread Doctors did to Kira later. Together they rise, both listening to the crackle of electricity. “I hear it, too.” He says as Scott starts to look. 

“It’s coming from the basement.” Scott murmurs. The lights flicker again, more ominous this time, and they both start for the door. He hears the hum of a background generator as they walk into the hallway and then the lights go out for a moment. They return just as quickly, but it doesn’t bring much comfort. They’ve been like this all day. 

“Scott!” Malia says, hurrying down the empty hall toward them. 

“Where is everyone?” He asks as she falls into step between them. “Where’s Kira?”

“Still at the library,” she says. “Stiles and Lydia are at the hospital.”

“Doing what?”

“Lydia’s trying to figure out what happened during her surgery,” she explains with a glance at Theo. 

“How long are they going to be there?” Scott asks. 

“They said they’re just waiting for the power to come back on.” She explains. Scott throws Theo a look and they pick up the pace in unison to make it to the basement. If it’s happening at the hospital too, then Kira can’t be responsible for it. If it isn’t her, it’s another chimera. Maybe they’ll be able to catch a scent. 

The sound of electricity cracklings and buzzing through the air makes the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He can’t detect my additional heartbeats, but that doesn’t mean they’re alone. As they turn the corner, they see wires sticking from one of the generators. They’ve been mangled to bits. Claws marks grace the top of the machine, deep and frenzied, and Theo swallows. 

“Chimera?” Malia guesses. 

“Theo, have we suspected anyone else of being one?” Scott turns to him and he tears his eyes away. 

“Sydney during biology. Lydia and I suspected her. When Lydia followed her out, I heard Sydney telling her that her hair falling out was just a medical thing she’s been dealing with for a long time. The only other person I suspected was Josh.” He admits, scratching at the back of his neck. “I can call Brett and see where they are. I left them on the soccer field when Liam was helping with your asthma attack. Mason was there, too.”

“Let’s hope he answers.” Scott says. The three of them hurry from the basement and Theo pulls out his phone, scrolling through his contacts list. 

“Why do you have his number?” Malia asks as they leave the building.

“I have all of your numbers programmed just in case I needed them.” Theo says without missing a beat, lifting the ringing phone to his ear. It rings once and goes straight to voicemail. “Dammit,” he hisses. He tries Mason and Liam, but neither answer. 

“We should get to the hospital. Stiles and Lydia could be in danger. If it’s Josh, do you think he can be stopped?” Scott questions as they reach Theo’s truck. 

“You’d better fucking hope so,” Theo mutters from the corner of his mouth. The doors are barely shut before he puts his truck in drive, gunning it for the hospital. He’s got no idea how far gone Josh is, but it probably isn’t good.


	6. Chapter 6

"Twenty-five dollars." Liam holds out the folded Bill's to Hayden. 

Hayden grabs a tray with a bunch of LED candles on it from the bar. "Liam, please stop."

He follows her, still holding out the money. "I promised I'll pay you back."

"It doesn't matter now," she sets a candle on one of the tables. "And Phil takes half of it anyway, so."

Liam follows her while she works. "I know it's for your medication, so please-- just take the money." He hates that he cost her something that she really needs. 

Hayden pauses and Liam makes his way around to face her. "No, it wasn't your fault."

Liam, thinking about the sixth grade and why she's been pissed at him all these years says, "I punched you in the face."

A startled laugh escaped her. "I meant the shots."

"Oh." Liam shuffles his feet, a little embarrassed. But it's nice to see her smiling at him for once.

Before he can say anymore stupid things, she tells him, "It's for mycophenalate. It's for a kidney transplant I had a few years ago. I work here so my sister doesn't have to pay for all of it. Now, can you just forget about it? I'll make it back somehow."

Liam barely hears what she says after 'kidney transplant'. That means she's a genetic chimera. Which is the genetic marker that Theo told them all chimeras have in common. He has to figure out if she is one. 

When she turns away, he jogs after her. "So, does Phil really take half?"

"Uh-huh. And never stops bragging about it. Just listen to him."

Liam turns his head to hear Phil talking to the new guy.

"It's not like they're gonna do anything," the jackass says. "They're all under the table and too young to be serving alcohol, anyway."

_ What a prick.  _

But if he pisses her off and she's a chimera...

"Hayden." He catches her attention and moves to stand in front of her, setting the money on her tray. "Can I ask you to do something else for me?

"What?"

"Close your eyes."

She looks at him like he's nuts. "Are you kidding?"

"Please?" Liam asks, trying to use the face that always works on Scott.

"No."

"Just two seconds. I swear, I'm not gonna do anything." He knows he sounds eager, but he really needs to know if she's still fully human.

"Why?"

As if he could just tell her that. "All you have to do is close your eyes for three seconds."

"You said two."

_ Argh.  _ Spare him from perceptive women. "Okay, it was three. Three at the most."

Hayden pulls a face then closes her eyes. Liam turns and reaches for a glowstick. 

"This is stupid." Hayden tells him, eyes still closed 

"Just one second." Liam cracks the glowstick and shakes it before holding it up to her face. He takes a deep breath and says, "Okay. Open them."

When she opens them, his heart sinks at the sight of her eyes reflecting the neon green light like an animal. The Dread Doctors have given her the eyes of some were-creature. She's a chimera 

-

When they reach the hospital, Scott leaves them at the reception desk. “You guys go find Stiles and Lydia, I’m going to check on my mom.” He says, already moving down the hall. Nodding, Theo turns to Malia and lets her lead the way. They follow the scent of Lydia and Stiles straight to the basement, though Theo knows that Stiles has gone somewhere else once they hit the bottom floor. 

Lydia’s on the ground, starting to stir, and Theo’s skin prickles with unease. He can almost taste the electric hum in the air. What are they doing here? _ Shit.  _ “Malia,” he says as he looks at her. “You need to get her out of here and go.”

“What about you?” She frowns up at him. 

“Stiles…” Lydia groans, starting to sit up. 

The air around them vibrates and makes Theo want to escape as quickly as possible. Sucking in a shaky breath, he brushes off Malia’s question and nods up. “Generators are on the roof. If Stiles was going to check those out, that’s where I’ll go. We need to move,” he says. “The Dread Doctors are here and we’re out of time.”

“How do you know that?” Malia’s brows draw together and Theo shakes his head a little. There will be time for that later. Right now, they need to leave. 

“Go. I’ll get Stiles,” he says before getting to his feet. Lydia’s fingers snare around his wrist and he stops, looking down at her. 

“Death. I feel it.” She whispers, her cheeks pale and eyes filled to the brim with concern. 

“I’ll make sure it isn’t him,” he promises. Gently freeing his hand, he leaves the basement. He can’t pinpoint where the doctors are, but he’s sure they came in through the main entrance. If he takes the stairs he might risk being seen, but they still don’t know he’s turning on them. 

He gathers up his courage and goes to the end of the hall, yanking open the door. Taking the steps two at a time, he reaches the roof a few seconds later. He can practically taste the electricity in the air. It’s not Kira. Which means it’s a chimera, possibly a raiju hybrid, and they have a nasty bite. “Stiles, you’re lucky I find you amusing.” He mutters as he opens the door. Immediately, his eyes fall upon a familiar face as his blood runs cold. 

_ “Please,” Josh begs as he shifts in his restraints. He’s strapped down by his forehead, various medical tools hovering over him, and Theo feels his stomach turn. He’s never been afraid of the experiments, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be nauseating to watch.  _

_ “Please, don’t hurt me.” The other boy’s voice shakes and a scalpel slides under his skin, cutting and carving away at him. When the flap of skin is lifted, Theo can see purple and blue lights pulsing through his muscles and around his rib cage.  _

_ “Your condition worsens,” the surgeon declares after a moment, leaning in closer. Josh whimpers and Theo turns away, shaking his head a little. Another failure doomed for death.  _

This is why the Dread Doctors are here. They’re going to take Josh, right? He bites back a bitter laugh, stepping further onto the roof. Josh snarls, any shred of his humanity gone as he lunged as Stiles with claws out and fangs bared. As he moves closer, the smell of salt makes his footsteps falter and he realizes that Stiles isn’t trying to defend himself. He’s trapped in some kind of memory, unable to see through the haze as a threat bears down on him. 

“Josh!” Theo snaps, his eyes burning gold. The other chimera doesn’t even flinch, too wrapped up in his prey. “You don’t want to do this!” He warns, closing the distance between them. Stiles finally seems to come to and vaults backwards across the rooftop, scrambling to get some space. Josh advances with a growl, lifting his claws to deliver a devastating strike, and Theo’s hand shoots out. 

Snarling, he shifts his features and slams his free palm into Josh’s chest. The other boy flies across the roof and Theo positions himself in front of Stiles, watching as Josh hits the ground. When it’s evident that he’s going to get back up, he surges forward and pounces on him before Josh is fully on his feet. The chimera comes up with his claws for Theo’s stomach and he delivers a hard jab into his jaw, sending him staggering back. As he stumbles, Theo’s fist catches him a second time and then he gets a foot down against Josh’s leg. The sickening crack of bone makes his hair stand on end. He grips both of Josh’s wrists, twisting him around and sending him spinning in the air before throwing him toward the ground. 

“Josh!” He tries again, reaching for his outstretched arms. With a roar, Josh lifts his lower body and kicks him squarely in the chest. One of his ribs cracks from the impact and he staggers back, anger flooding through him as Josh gets quickly on his feet. He’s too far gone to be saved. Most chimeras collapse after their outburst, drowning in mercury, and Theo knows the same will be true for Josh. 

Closing the gap between them, they fight hand to hand and he’s matched at every blow. Josh’s legs catch the back of his leg, cutting cleanly through his Achilles’ heel, and he roars in pain. He falls and lands on his stomach, barely able to get a breath in. Josh’s boot comes down on his hand and he cries out, white hot pain filling him as his wrist breaks in multiple places and his finger bones shatter. They’ve already started to heal when Josh steps off, but he can’t use it for the moment. 

“Josh, I really don’t wanna kill you.” He grinds out, rolling onto his back and missing a second boot that was aimed for his spine. He gets up fast, maneuvering around and putting enough space between them so that his hand can have time to heal. “Remember Brett?” He asks, searching for any scrap of humanity left in the other boy. “Mason? Liam? What they did to you, I can fix it. I can try.” He says. But Josh doesn’t answer, electric purple eyes flashing at him. Too far gone. 

“They’d better forgive me for this,” he grunts before throwing himself at the other boy. Josh goes down after his first hit, but he’s spry. He launches himself again but this time, Theo sees it coming. Grabbing his right arm, he twists violently around until several of his bones break and throws punch after punch into his sternum. Josh gasps at that, the purple leaving his eyes, and Theo gets a hand around his throat as he doubles over. 

“Stop,” he whispers. But Josh snaps his fangs again, inches from his face, and he doesn’t have a choice. Grimacing, he digs his claws into the soft flesh of Josh’s throat and pulls. He cuts neatly through the flesh, tearing out his throat without a second thought. A gurgle answers him, Josh’s eyes widening and showing a brief flicker of clarity, and then the light in them dims. His body falls back and Theo sags in relief, dropping his gaze. 

His hand is soaked in blood. It’s not the first time that this has happened, and it probably won’t be the last, but this time it feels different. He’d wanted to help Josh, hadn’t told Liam or the pack about him because he’d wanted to try an alternate route, but it’s too late for that. He’s dead now and the Dread Doctors will disappear as quickly as they’ve come. They don’t care about the failures and once again, Theo will be left to clean up their mess. 

“You...you killed him,” Stiles says hoarsely. 

“He didn’t exactly give me a choice.” Theo mutters, the words bitter on his tongue. 

“Is Lydia okay?”

“She’s fine, Malia and I found her in the basement. I came up here to make sure you weren’t being mauled to death. Dread Doctors should be done by now,” he comments as an afterthought. 

“They were here, too?” Stiles steps closer and Theo can smell the anxiety rolling off of him in thick clouds. 

“They came for him,” he says. 

“You knew he was a chimera? And you didn’t say anything!”

“Because he was already dying,” Theo says softly. His features shift back to normal and he kneels down, wiping his bloodied hand on Josh’s clothes. 

“What do we do about the body?” Stiles croaks, running his hand haphazardly back through his hair. 

“We take it. And then we wait,” Theo shrugs one shoulder. “We need to find out who is taking the bodies.” He reminds him, taking a deep breath. 

“And what do we tell Scott?” Stiles asks, turning to look over the edge of the roof as sirens start to come closer. 

“The truth. I’m not asking you to lie to anyone,” Theo says as he kneels down to lift Josh’s body. “Go bring your car around to the back entrance. I’ll bring the body down and meet you there.”

“Why-“

“Stiles, I swear, just go get the fucking car and we can play twenty questions later. Go,” Theo snaps out as the sirens get closer. The other boy bites his left and hurries away, leaving Theo to heft up the body and carry him down the stairs. It’s a struggle to carry the dead weight, but Theo knows this is their last chance to find out who is taking the bodies. Fuck. They’re going to have to call and tell the rest of the pack about this. Liam will inevitably tell Brett and Theo hopes he isn’t around when that happens. 

When he reaches the Jeep, Stiles isn’t alone. Scott is with him, looking alarmed as Theo tosses the body into the back of the Jeep. “Where are Malia and Lydia?” He asks, grimacing a little at the smell in the Jeep. They’re going to have to scrub it down later. The decay of Lucas still stinks it up. 

“Sent them home. Lydia took her car and was going to drop Malia off.” Scott says. “I want you to tell me what happened.”

“Josh was too far gone, it was him or me.” Theo tells him bluntly. “I figured I would be a little more useful to you.” Silence answers him and he huffs out a bitter laugh. They all know it’s true. He picks at his nails, frowning at the blood that’s drying beneath them. It’s going to be a bitch to get out of his clothes. He’s got money stashed away to buy more for moments like this, but shopping is the last thing on his mind at the moment. 

“We’re taking him to the clinic. Deaton still out of town?” Theo asks as Stiles pulls onto the road. A cop car rushes past and he sighs as Stiles’s heartbeat kicks up. “You didn’t do anything,” he reminds. 

“Killed Donovan.” 

“Self-defense. And there’s no body. No body, no crime.” Theo points out. 

“How often have you had to tell yourself that?” Stiles shoots back, turning and giving him a curious look. 

“Too many times,” he mutters. 

“Uh...yeah.” Scott answers slowly, looking between them. “Haven’t heard from him in a few days, his trip must be taking longer than he expected.” Theo doesn’t bother pointing out the blatant lie. “Why the clinic?”

“Because this time, we aren’t going to lose the body.” Theo settles back in his chair and closes his eyes. 

When he opens them again, they’re parked at the clinic and the slam of the door has woken him. Grumbling to himself, he gets out of the Jeep and stretches until his joints pop. Fuck, he needs a nap. Scott’s got the door to the clinic open and he goes to help Stiles with the body. Together they lay him across the steel table in the back room and Scott covers him with a white sheet. 

“How well did you two know him?” Theo asks curiously. 

“I know his name is Josh and he’s a junior.” Scott says, crossing his arms and leaning back against the counter. “Is this why the Dread Doctors were at the hospital? To kill him?”

“Probably. They said his condition was worsening when they last had him in their hands,” Theo explains. Two pairs of eyes fly to him and he grimaces a little. “Probably should have said that sooner?”

“You think?” Stiles snorts. 

“Reminder that being one of the good guys is new to me,” Theo sighs. “I’ve been telling you the important things.”

“No, you’ve been leaving increasingly frustrating hints and not actually telling us a damn thing.” Stiles accuses. Theo shrugs one shoulder. It’s all the same to him. He’s been providing them with the tidbits he can while continuing to weigh his alliances. So far, they’re still pretty fucking even. 

“Look, Theo’s doing what he can. He has to be careful,” Scott speaks up and Theo jolts in shock. Is this guy seriously defending him right now? Before he can comment, Scott is already continuing, “I know it sucks. But we can’t lose the one source of information we have. At least he’s not actively plotting against us anymore.”

“As far as you know,” Stiles and Theo chime in unison. 

“The point is,” Scott continues as if they haven’t spoken, “that we need to work together right now.  _ All _ of us,” he adds with a glance at Stiles. “So, who is going to stay with the body tonight?” His gaze flicks between them. 

“I’ll do it,” Theo says after an uncomfortable pause. They deserve a night off from this shit. The thought hits out of nowhere, leaving an uncomfortable tightness in his chest, and he shoves it down viciously. “It’s not like I had a big Saturday night planned.” It would have been spent watching the kid with wings as the Dread Doctors poked and prodded at him for their experiments. Those are screams he’s happy to miss out on. 

Scott’s phone vibrates and he picks it up, frowning down at the name. 

“What is it?” Stiles anxiously shifts, his voice rising in pitch, and Theo wishes the guy could shut off his chemosignals. 

“Another one,” Scott murmurs. He sounds like he doesn’t quite believe it. “Another chimera.”

“Lydia and Malia?” Theo raises a brow. Scott shakes his head, tapping out a quick text and then sliding his phone into his pocket. 

“Liam. He says Hayden is one. Did you know?” Scott asks.

“Can’t say that I did. I don’t stick around every time they find someone new to play with.” He says truthfully, trying not to squirm as Stiles gives him a look. “You going to check it out?”

“Yeah. Stiles, can you give me a lift? Theo, we’ll text you if anything happens.”

“I’ll do the same,” he promises as he hops up onto a counter and look at Josh’s dead body. “You guys better bring me food and shit later. I’m not starving myself for the cause.” He warns. 

“Will do. There are some blankets and pillows in the storage closet, we usually give them to animals after surgery to use but everything in there has been washed a dozen times or so.” Scott tells him. “I’ll bring something to eat later.” He promises. He and Stiles take their leave and Theo sighs, kicking his feet lightly against the cabinet below him. 

“Just you and me, Diaz.” He sighs. “Just you and me.”

-

"What?" Hayden asks Liam, batting his hand and the glowstick away. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I-" Liam sighs. He looks at Phil and the new guy and sighs. "Can we go somewhere more private? I've got something really important to show you."

She rolls her eyes. "God, you're being weird. Tell me now if you're going to say you want to wear my skin or something."

"What? Ew, no. Just, please, Hayden."

"Ugh, fine. Follow me." She stomps off back past the bar.

"Hey!" Phil hollers at her. "Where the hell do you think you're going?"

Hayden waves him off over her shoulder. "I'm taking my break. If you can't figure out how to set candles down on tables, I'm sure your new boytoy can." 

Liam stifles a snicker and follows her into what he assumes is a small breakroom. She flops down on a wooden chair and crosses her arms. "Okay, what? What's _ so  _ important that you couldn't say to me out there?"

He opens his mouth to tell her, but he doesn't know where to even start. "Shit. Okay, um. Here. I'll show you." He hands her the glowstick and takes a few steps toward the door to shut off the light switch.

"Oh, fuck this. I don't know what kind of shit you're into, buddy, but-"

"Hayden! Shut up for a second!" In the faint glow from the illuminated stick, he can see that he's startled her. "I'm not a creep, okay. I don't know if your sister talks to you about the weird shit that goes on in this town but if she has, I'm going to try to enlighten you on some of it. I'm not going to hurt you or do anything nasty. I just need you to listen and to  _ see." _

"See what?"

He kneels in front of her. "What happens to a dog's eyes when it's dark and lights hit them?"

"The light reflects off of them. What does that have to do with-"

Liam lays a hand on hers, the one holding the glowstick. "Put it up to my face like I did to you."

When she doesn't move, he gently grabs her wrist and brings her hand closer to his face. Her breath hitches and he knows she sees in his eyes the same thing he'd seen in hers. 

"What the fuck?" She snatches her hand away. "Are you trying to tell me you're a dog?"

"Werewolf, actually. My eyes reflect the light because I'm a werewolf."

"You really are crazy."

"No, I'm not. Werewolves are real and so are banshees and kitsunes and a bunch of other things. And apparently so are chimeras because you are one."

"What? You're insane. I'm human. I'd know if I were a chimera or whatever."

"You really wouldn't." Liam insists. "There are these three creepy guys in masks, or I guess one’s a girl, and they kidnap teens with two sets of DNA -like shingrafts or a  _ kidney transplant-  _ and operate on them, turning them into chimeras. The Dread Doctors do something to scramble with your memories so you don't know until they come after you again."

"Liam, leave. Now."

"I can't! You have to-"

"No." Hayden pushes him back and grabs a cardigan from a hook beside the door before storming out of the building.

"Hayden!" Liam scrambles after her. "Hayden, wait!"

"Asking me to close my eyes was weird. Sticking a glowstick in my face? Even weirder. But Werewolves and Dead Doctors?" She pauses beside her car.

"Dread Doctors."

"Whatever. Get away from me." She opens her car door and moves to get inside.

"What if I can prove it?"

"Prove what?"

"That werewolves exist, and everything else, too."

"Look, I know you did that weird thing with your eyes but-"

"Give me ten seconds, please."

"I'm pretty sure I've given you enough seconds, Liam."

_ "Hayden. Please. _ You don't have to do anything. Just watch."

A pinched look settles on her face but she waves sarcastically to go on. Liam sighs and closes his eyes. When he opens them, the world is brighter and he knows he's successfully shifted his eyes. She gasps at the glow. His face scrunches up as the bones in his jaw make room for his fangs. The skin on his cheeks prickle as the extra hair grows here. He flexes his fingers as his nails harden into sharp claws.

"I was bitten by an alpha last year. He did it to save my life." Liam's speech slurs because of his fangs. "It's been a long, hard lesson in control. Because now, if I get too angry, I could accidentally kill someone instead of just punching a bystander in the face." He shows her his claws. "It's hard, living in this world, but I didn't have a choice, and neither did you."

Hayden reaches out and grabs his hand, fingers tracing over his claws. "A werewolf."

"I know. I thought it was nuts, too, when I was told. But I'm real and so are the Dread Doctors. My pack, we want to help you and all of the kids like you if we can. Please let us."

"Liam, I-"

Before she can say anything else, static sounds from her car radio and a voice comes through.  _ "Your condition improves." _

"Shit! It's them!" Liam grabs her hand just as three masked figures appear at the end of the road and start marching toward the club. "We've gotta go!"

"Get in the car!" Hayden pulls back. But before they can get in, the locks start switching on and off and her lights start flickering.

From the radio:  _ "Hayden… Hayden… Hayden…" _

"Leave it! Let's go!" Liam grabs her and they run out of the parking lot and away from the nearly empty warehouse district.

He leads her toward Industry Bridge and she stops him before they can cross. "Liam. Please."

"What? What's wrong?"

"I know we really need to get away. But these shoes are not meant for running."

Liam glances down at her feet and finally notices the wedge boots she's wearing. "Right. Ok. Um, do you think you can walk across the bridge? After that we can probably get a ride."

"Yeah, I can walk." She takes a few steps, wincing, but she trudges on so Liam follows her. "Where are we going anyway?"

"Scott's."

"Scott McCall?" At his nod she asks, "Why Scott's?"

"He's my alpha. He'll know what to do." And if Scott is with Theo, even better. Theo will know more about what to do with Hayden. 

Once they're across the bridge and in a more populated area, Liam calls them an Uber with the card his mom had given him for emergencies. This feels like a freaking emergency to him.

Once they're at Scott's, he takes her up to the alpha's room thinking that maybe his scent will soothe her like it does him. "I'll text Scott and he'll be here to help as soon as possible."

Hayden doesn't say anything so Liam turns away to text his alpha and tell him he's found another chimera. The sound of a door closing startles him into looking up and he realizes Hayden had gone into Scott's bathroom. Next, he hears the tell-tale sound of a lock clicking. He rushes to the door. "Hayden?"

She doesn't say anything.

"Hayden, is everything okay?" She still doesn't answer. "Please talk to me."

When she still doesn't answer, he finishes his text and leans against the door. "I'm here for whatever you need, okay?"

Hus phone buzzes in his hand. Scott tells him he's on his way. "Scott will be here in a few minutes. It'll be okay."

Neither of them say anything else. His heart lurches when he hears Stiles's Jeep pull into the drive. A few moments later, Scott and Stiles appear in the doorway. 

"She's in there." Liam scrambles up and points at the bathroom door. 

Scott moves to the door and knocks with one knuckle. "Hayden? It's Scott. I know that you're scared, but we just... We want to help."

When she doesn't answer, Scott turns to Liam. "I can hear her heart beating-- she's really freaked out. What happened?"

"She was okay when we got here." Liam answers. "I went to text you for two seconds and she locked herself in."

"Why?" Stiles asks. 

"I don't know."

Scott catches his attention. "She's definitely a Chimera?"

"We heard a voice  _ over her radio _ saying: 'Your condition improves'."

"Okay, that's unsettling." Stiles moves to the door. "Hayden? This is Stiles. Your sister works for my dad down at the station? Look, just open the door. You can trust us."

She still doesn't say anything. Stiles turns to Scott. 

He steps away from the door so Scott can take back over. "We just need to tell you the truth, Hayden. And that kind of thing is usually better face-to-face. Listen, either you're gonna unlock the door, or I'm gonna have to break it open. It's okay if you don't want to talk, or if you're not ready to believe us. But I just... I gotta know that you're okay in there."

They all step back and Scott adjusts his stance to break the door down. Before he can move, the door clicks open and widens about three inches. The boys look at each other before Scott slowly pushes the door open further to reveal Hayden standing in the doorway.

She's staring at her clawed fingers, but when she looks up, her eyes are glowing yellow. Through a mouthful of fangs, she says, "I believe you."

"Alright. Okay." Scott reaches out and wraps an arm around her shoulders and guides her to sit down on the bed. "Where do you want us to start?"

"Liam said something about dead doctors."

"Dread Doctors," all three boys correct her. 

"Yeah, those. Whatever. They… operate on kids like me and we turn into this?" She holds up her claws.

"Well, every chimera is different," Stiles says, "but yeah, once they're done with the kids the experiment on, they all end up with unnatural supernatural gifts. And also mercury poisoning."

"What?" Liam and Hayden exclaim.

"It's okay, though. We know someone who can help."

Liam's heart beats heavily at the mention of Theo. "So, if every chimera is different, what kind is she?"

Scott turns to Hayden. "Something similar to a werewolf, I think. Your claws, fangs, and eyes are standard issue werewolf, from what I can tell. Maybe half werecoyote like Theo?"

"We could call him and ask," Stiles suggests.

"Good idea." Scott digs his phone or off his pocket and presses the screen a few times. He holds his phone out as it rings over speakerphone. 

Finally, a low, raspy voice answers. "Scott? Is something wrong?"

"No. Hayden is here. She's freaked out but otherwise fine." Scott rubs the back of his neck with his free hand. "Look, Theo, I know you said you didn't know about Hayden, but do you think you could help us figure out what kind she is?"

"Why?"

"Maybe she'll have dietary restrictions or something, now." Stiles flails his arms toward the phone. "Fuck, man, we barely know what a chimera is. You're the expert here, that's why we called you."

Theo doesn't say anything but Liam can practically hear his eyeroll. He tries a different way. "Her claws, fangs, and eyes look like ours so we thought maybe she was part coyote like you."

"The Dread Doctors don't like to do the same experiment twice. She'll be different." Theo sighs. "Check her back."

"What?" Everyone asks. 

"She might have markings on her back. Kinda like Tracy's scales. Or some other thing like Lucas's spikes."

"Liam?" Hayden catches his attention and he looks over to see her shrugging off her jacket, leaving her in the crop top she'd worn to the club. 

Liam circles around the bed and kneels on it to get a better look at her back. At first he doesn't see anything, then he notices something on her shoulders. "Move your hair."

She gathers her hair and pulls it all in front of her right shoulder revealing a pattern down her neck and across her shoulders. "They're... spots."

"Spots?" She asks. "I have spots?"

"What kind of spots?" Stiles turns toward him.

"Uh. Big cat. Not cheetah or leopard, I don't think."

Scott and Stiles look at each other. "Jaguar."

The word has memories of Kate Argent barreling to the forefront of Liam's memory, along with the sick feeling of helpless fear at the remembered sounds of her berserkers.

Theo's voice snaps him back to the present. "There's your answer."


	7. Chapter 7

Liam’s phone goes off early in the morning and he groans into his pillow. Rolling over, he smacks blindly at his desk until he finds it. “Hello?” He garbles as he touches the screen. 

“Liam?” Scott asks. “Hey, buddy, sorry to wake you. Have you heard from Hayden at all?” He sits up at that and glances at the other side of his bed where she’s passed out asleep. 

“Yeah, she’s with me.” He says, rubbing at his eyes. 

“I-Oh-“

“Not like that,” he rolls his eyes. “After you and Stiles left, she didn’t want to be alone. My dad was working a double at the hospital and my mom is still out of town for her conference, so I brought her to my place. She spent the night. That’s it.” He says, yawning hard enough that his jaw creaks. 

“Well, I’ve got a plan to help hide Hayden from the Dread Doctors tonight. Think you can convince her to stay the night again with all of us? We want to set up shop at the school,” he explains. 

“Why the school?”

“Telluric currents meet there. Remember how Kira shut down Eichen’s wards and the Dread Doctors got inside?”

“Yeah…” Liam says slowly. Hayden stirs next to him and he looks away. 

“The school has those same currents. We can make it a fortress and protect her there. Can you convince her?” Scott pleads. 

“I’ll do my best. Text me the details and I’ll meet you there.” He promises. He hangs up as Scott agrees and Hayden looks up, blinking blearily. 

“Liam?” She asks, lifting up onto her elbows and rubbing her face. “Did I fall asleep in here?”

“Yeah. Sorry, that was Scott on the phone. He’s got a plan to help keep you safe. He thinks we should spend the night at the school. I know, crazy.” He says when she raises a brow. “Think you can sneak away from your sister for the night?”

“She’s working a double. I’ll tell her I’m staying with a friend tonight and she’ll be none the wiser.” Hayden says, getting to her feet. “Can I use your shower?”

“Of course.”

“Thanks.” Smiling a little, she walks into his bathroom and Liam flops back onto his bed and closes his eyes. The scent of her perfume tickles his nose and not for the first time, he wishes it was another scent in his bed. And fuck, isn’t that something? He lets his thoughts drift to the green-eyed boy that’s starting to take up more and more residence in his head. He’s attractive, snarky, and has a wicked smirk that Liam is dying to kiss half the time. He’s always had a thing for pretty men - his brief attraction to Brett during his freshman year had revealed his bisexuality - but Theo is like a walking wet dream. And he scares the absolute shit out of Liam. 

He sighs and gets up before he can start to dwell on that, getting dressed. He can deal with his thoughts about Theo later. Right now, he’s got to focus on Hayden and Scott’s plan to protect her. He doesn’t understand it himself, and an incoming text from Scott provides no real clarity, but he trusts his alpha. If Scott says he can keep Hayden safe, then he can. It’s just that simple. 

They speed through breakfast and stop by Hayden’s house to pick up a few things. She calls her sister and easily convinces her that she’s going to be fine for a night by herself and then they are off to the school. Liam carries a duffel bag as he and Hayden walk the halls, heading to her locker so she can get a few things. 

“What if this doesn’t work?” She asks as she gets the locker open. 

“I told you, Scott has a plan.” Liam says, folding his arms over his chest. Hayden doesn’t look impressed. She shoves her books into her locker and closes it with more force than necessary. Despite it being the weekend, the school is still crawling with people as students cram into the library to study and get homework done. 

“I hate lying to my sister.” She twists her lips and Liam sighs. 

“I know, I know. But this is the best way. Trust me, you don’t want her caught in the middle of this.” He tells her. 

“Does your family know?” She asks. 

“No. I’m sure my stepdad suspects something, but I haven’t told either of them. My stepdad had a pretty close call once with a patient that turned out to be a wendigo. He killed the nurse that had checked on him. It was supposed to be my dad in there, but I’d been complaining and he was down in the cafeteria getting me a snack. If he hadn’t been, he would have been the one dead.” He admits softly. Hayden sucks in a breath and he looks down. He’s never told anyone that before. He’s sure Scott has an idea of it, but they’ve never really talked about what he saw at the hospital on the night he was turned. A wendigo had come pretty low on the list in comparison to the assassins hunting them all down. 

“All right.” She says at last. “Tell me about this plan.” He’s grateful for the change in subject and offers her a cautious smile. 

“So, Scott says the Dread Doctors have issues with these things called telluric currents. I don’t understand what it all means, but basically they converge in a few places. And the school here is one of them.”

“Which is why we’re staying the night here?” Hayden asks. 

“Exactly.”

“How is any of this supposed to stop those monsters?”

“Apparently these guys use frequencies to travel. And Scott wants to disrupt their frequency so we can trap them here at the school, if they show up for you. There’s a lot of science behind it that I don’t understand, but Lydia is confident that her plan will work. And she’s scary smart, like Mason.”

“Is everyone in your group going to be there?”

“It’s called a pack,” Liam huffs a little laugh, “and not exactly. Mason won’t be there. Though I’m not sure he’s pack to them. But he is to me. And Kira won’t be. She’s the kitsune. Apparently she’s got issues around telluric currents, so she’s staying behind to be safe.” Liam explains. 

“This doesn’t exactly feel like a fail safe plan,” Hayden says skeptically. “What if they still get to me?” 

“Then I’ll protect you.” Liam promises, reaching over and squeezing her hand tight. “Hayden, I know this is really scary, but I promise that you’ll be okay. Scott and his friends know what they’re doing. They’ve dealt with all kinds of crazy things and they wouldn’t do this if they didn’t think you’d be safe.” He knows he’s asking for a huge leap of faith and blind trust, but he hopes that she believes enough in them. “Would you rather be sitting at home and waiting for them to show up?”

“No. I just...I’m scared.” She whispers. He looks up to find her eyes full of tears and panic fills him. Shit. He’s not good with people crying, especially not girls. He stands there awkwardly, opening and closing his mouth like a fish, and Hayden rolls her eyes. “Hug me, you dumbass.” She says before stepping closer and wrapping her arms around him. He does just that, tucking his head down against her and breathing her in. She’s not his type, hasn’t been for a while now, but there’s comfort in this. She’s not looking for anything except a friend and he’s glad to give that to her. 

“Do you know where we’re going to set up tonight?” She asks him. 

“Probably the locker room.” He says, shrugging slightly. “That would be my best bet. And we can run. If things go to shit, we can get out fast.”

“Promise?” She asks, pulling back from the hug to look at him. 

“I swear on my life.” He tells her. And he means it. If anyone comes for Hayden, they’ll have to go through him. He’s not losing anyone else. 

-

Liam and Hayden meet Scott and Lydia in the locker room. Hayden stops in the doorway. Liam turns to her, concerned. "Are you okay?"

Her face screws up. "Did it always smell like this in here?"

Liam snorts and sends her a knowing look. "Well, it  _ is _ a boy's locker room. I promise it gets worse."

Scott's amused chuckle catches their attention. "You'll learn how to filter out and ignore unpleasant scents."

"How?" Hayden asks, her nose still wrinkled.

Liam smiles happily. "By basking in them until you become noseblind."

"Are you serious?"

Scott rolls his eyes. "I wouldn't have put it like that, but the easiest way is to immerse yourself with many scents and focus on ones that don't hurt your nose. For me, it's the metal of the lockers and coach's aftershave. When other people are here it's easier to focus on them, assuming they didn't just play a lacrosse game and smell like sweaty teenage boys."

Even Liam has to grimace at that. "Yeah, like I said, it gets worse."

"Okay. Okay." Hayden takes a tentative breath and her face screws up. Liam tries not to laugh as her head lifts while she sniffs the air. She must find a tolerable scent because her face relaxes. He almost loses it when she starts to move, following the scent but he can't when she follows it straight to him and presses her forehead to his shoulder. "You smell better than the locker room."

Liam chuckles and pats her back. "I can't promise that will stay true, but for now, just focus on that. We've got work to do."

They move lockers to barricade most of the doors. Parrish shows up long enough to set up a cell phone jammer in the locker room, then moves out to his post outside of the building. Malia is set up in the main hallway with her own jammer. Lydia places the third jammer on the teacher's desk of the classroom closest to the locker room. 

Once everything is set up and everyone is in position, all they can do is wait. They spend some time answering Hayden's questions about the pack and the supernatural. Lydia promises to get her a copy of the bestiary as soon as they can.

When the conversation dies down and silence fills the space, Liam realizes he kind of misses Stiles's idle chatter in times like this. And, if he's honest with himself, he really wishes Theo was there, too. Liam can't help but admire the older boy for sticking his neck out for them. Sure, the information he doles out isn't much and it's usually like pulling teeth from the chimera, but from what Liam understands, Theo could still be plotting to ruin them and instead he's helping them. That means something.

His thoughts wander to Theo's demeanor now that he's been caught versus how he'd acted when he'd first shown up. The first Theo, the fake Theo, had been approachable and charming. The real Theo is grumpy and acerbic. For some unfathomable reason, Liam prefers the latter.

His thoughts are interrupted by Hayden leaving his side to go stand at one of the sinks. It takes him a hot minute to figure out why she's just staring at herself in the mirror. Then, he realizes she's trying to shift. He stands and moves over to her.

"Don't worry," he reassures her. "You learn to control it."

Hayden glances at him in the mirror. "I'm not like you. I wasn't bitten by a wolf. I was... someone's  _ science experiment."  _ She leans forward and shakes her head at her reflection. "This is so bizarre."

"I know, but you're gonna be okay. I promise." Liam's heart sinks a little when she looks like she doesn't believe him.

"What am I?" she asks.

A million answers run through his mind but he already knows she knows them. So instead, he says, "You're Hayden."

His answer makes her smile, and he feels better for it. "By the way-" she turns to him "-if you get me out of this, I'll forget all about the sixth grade."

Liam smiles back. "Deal."

Lydia's voice catches Liam's attention. "Scott?" He looks over so see Lydia looking nervously up at the alpha. "I was just thinking... Since we can't use our phones, we can't check in on Stiles and Theo."

Scott shakes his head. "I didn't even think about that."

"Me, either. So, we're standing here, waiting for guys in masks and breathing tubes to show up. But who--or what-- are Stiles and Theo waiting for?"

Liam's heart promptly wedges itself in his throat. Hayden grabs his hand and looks up at him, one brow raised. He takes an unsteady breath and shakes his head. He's not ready to talk about his stupid, useless feelings.

Instead, he reminds himself that Theo has survived years with the Dread Doctors and that the thing stealing bodies only steals dead ones. As long as Theo stays alive, he'll be fine. And he will stay alive, because Theo is a survivor.

-

Watching over a dead body is officially the most boring task of all time. Theo’s ready to drop dead himself at this rate. Nothing has happened. He’d slept a few hours in the night, waking a few times from nightmares, but nothing is any difference. A part of him wonders if he’s wasting his time. As far as he can recall, none of the bodies have gone missing during the day. This might just be a pointless endeavor. 

Still, at least he’s by himself for a while. Well, Josh’s corpse is there but he’s not counting that. “You know, you’re lucky.” Theo says as he circles the room restlessly. Josh doesn’t answer him. “Most of them die from the mercury poisoning. But not you. Your death wasn’t quite as painful as theirs. Their bodies burn from the inside out. But you? Well, you choked to death on your own blood.” He stops for a moment and looks down at his body. As he examines him, he feels something shift in the air.  _ Shit.  _

The air crackles with energy and there’s a low hum that emanates from the front room. His skin crawls as he turns, shoulders stiffening as he heads toward the front desk. One of the bastards is waiting there, watching him with those soulless eyes. If they even have eyes. Theo’s not entirely sure what lies beneath those masks. 

“Checking up on me?” He scoffs, feigning annoyance to hide his fear. Thankfully, these jackasses don’t seem to be able to notice his chemosignals. He knows they aren’t entirely human, but they’re still human enough. There’s no answer save for a mechanical breath. He flicks his gaze back to Josh’s body, seeing his clawed hand that’s hanging out from under the sheet.

“You can’t tell me you don’t want to know who’s taking the bodies,” he comments as he turns back to the Dread Doctor. 

“Inconsequential,” the surgeon replies. 

“Why?” His brows scrunch together as he flips through his thoughts to try and understand. Another mechanical breath. “You don’t care that someone’s running off with your little failed science experiments?” He turns, gesturing back at the body. The breathing grows a little more rapid, but everything else is steady in the air around them. It feels like a light has been switched on in his head. 

“You already know who’s taking them,” he says at last. Of fucking course they do. Have they been watching this entire time? Do they know that he’s been working more closely with the pack and moving against them? The air shifts around the Dread Doctor and for a beat, he fears for his life. Trying to shake off the fear, he musters up false bravado under the guise of anger and twists his face into a sneer. 

“Did you forget that you were supposed to be keeping me in the loop on everything?” He demands, shifting from a passive stance to something more cocky and threatening. He’s always been damn good at posturing against those bastards. They tolerate it at best because without him, they’ll have nothing. Their plans will fall apart. 

“Inconsequential,” the surgeon intones. Somehow, he sounds like he’s also irritated. Theo’s pushing his buttons. 

“Not to me!” He snaps out, leaning forward into it. The air around them clicks menacingly and he turns away, taking a shaky breath. A car passes by and he has to shake his thoughts loose again as he turns back. When he does, he’s alone in the room. “You son of a bitch,” he hissed under his breath. The back door opens and he spins on his heel, heart slamming faster in his chest. 

“What are you doing here?” He asks as Stiles barrels through the door. The human walks straight past him and over to Josh’s body. 

“Whoever’s stealing the bodies probably isn’t going to do it while we’re standing guard over one of them?” He continues past Josh and pauses at the counter. “Why is this on?” He asks, nodding at where there are x-rays posted on a board. 

“I got bored,” Theo shrugs one shoulder. “You got a better idea?” He adds, nodding at Josh’s corpse. 

“Matter of fact, I do.” Stiles pulls out his phone and sets it up above the x-rays. “Come on,” he says, already turning and leaving the room. Rolling his eyes, Theo follows after him. The air feels easier to breathe outside and he pauses, taking it all in for a moment. If the Dread Doctors aren’t onto him yet, then they’re getting close. He’s going to have to make his move sooner rather than later. 

Grimacing at the thought, he climbs into the Jeep with Stiles and watches as he hangs a smart watch from his mirror. “Where’d you get that?” He asks. 

“Asked my dad if I could borrow his. He’s never worn the damn thing.” Stiles snorts softly and adjusts the mirror so he and Theo can see the watch. It’s showing a live video from the phone and they can see Josh’s corpse. “I’ve got a charger backup for both in case we run out.” He adds before Theo can ask. 

“Gotta hand it to you, you can be smart.” Theo says. “So what happens now?”

“We wait.”

“You want to take shifts watching?” Theo asks, leaning back in his seat and making himself comfortable. 

“No, no. I want to spend some quality time with you.” Stiles snarks. Theo bobs his head down against his chest and doesn’t bother to hide his smirk. 

“Sounds good to me. What better way to spend my Saturday night than braiding your hair and trading stories?” He flicks his gaze back to the camera and sighs. The sun is setting low in the sky. If someone is coming for the body at dark, it won’t be long before they arrive. “You just missed the surgeon,” he says as Stiles opens his mouth. 

“One of them was here? What did they want?” Stiles demands. 

“I don’t know. I think they were just checking up on me.” Theo admits. “That or they wanted to kill me. But they know who’s taking the bodies. Didn’t tell me a damn thing. And I asked.” He says, crossing his arms over his chest. “Everything to them is ‘inconsequential’ when it comes to one of their failed experiments. They don’t give a damn that someone is taking the bodies.”

“And you still don’t think it’s them?” Stiles raises a brow. 

“No. If it was them, I’d have found out by now where they’re keeping the bodies. There aren’t a ton of places they can hide things from me in the tunnels. I know their secrets and their tricks.” He sighs and closes his eyes. “You mind if I get some sleep?” He asks, shifting down further in the seat. 

“I’ve got a million and a half questions to ask you-“

“And I’ll be in a better mood to answer them when I’ve slept longer than fifteen minutes. Wake me when the sun sets all the way.” Theo doesn’t leave room for an argument, already shutting off his thoughts. If there’s one thing he’s good at, it’s falling asleep in inconvenient locations whenever he needs to. 

“You’re a dick,” Stiles tells him. Theo wants to say it’s a mutual thought, but he’s already drifting. 

When he comes to, it’s darker outside than expected. He blinks slowly, shifting his phone out of his pocket, and realizes it’s hours later than he’d thought. “Why’d you let me sleep so long?” He asks, scrubbing at his face before glancing at the smart watch. Nothing has happened. 

“Didn’t see a point in waking you. Not like you were going to rip out my throat while you were asleep.” Stiles says, shifting in his seat. 

“You think I’ve got some kind of ulterior motive?” Theo resists the urge to roll his eyes. He knows Stiles has every right to be wary of him. They all do. His loyalties to the pack are still paper thin. 

“More than likely,” the human confirms. 

“Would you believe me if I said all I want…” Theo pauses and considers his words. “All I’ve ever wanted,” he continues softly, “is for you guys to trust me.” He’s gotten a taste from that with Scott and Liam. It’s a new feeling, but he likes it. 

“Nope,” Stiles doesn’t even bat an eyelash. 

“So you’re here because you’re never going to trust me,” he says. 

“Yep. Glad we had this talk.” Stiles says, still not turning to look at him. Theo sighs and straightens up in his seat. He flexes his jaw and turns his head, tongue tracing the inside of his teeth before he turns back to Stiles. 

“You know who you remind me of?” He murmurs. 

“Theo, I don’t care.” Stiles’s voice grows softer and Theo knows he’s at least a  _ little _ curious. 

“My sister.” Saying the word aloud makes his throat tighten. He hasn’t spoken about her since the night that Stiles and Liam found him at the bridge, tossing lilies to the water. Stiles doesn’t say anything. He can practically hear the thoughts turning over in his head and he smiles bitterly. “She was smarter than everyone,” he says softly. “And a pain in the ass like you.”

“I remember her,” Stiles says softly. 

“Tara always looked out for me.” Theo says, swallowing the lump in his throat. She’d always kept an eye on all of them. Theo remembered the dozens of sleepovers with Scott and Stiles and the nights where Tara had been forced to babysit while their parents went out to dinner. “It’s the same way you look out for Scott. I respect that,” he finishes. Stiles looks over at him, his breath catching, and Theo knows it’s time to tell the truth he’s buried for almost a decade. 

“I was the one who found her body,” he says softly. “But the story was all wrong. I told the rescuers that she’d fallen into the creek and broken her leg.” Tears prick at the corners of his eyes and he sucks in a breath of his own. He licks his lips, stalling for a moment, and stares in resignation out the windshield. “They told us she would’ve been okay if it wasn’t one of the coldest nights of the year. If it wasn’t for the hypothermia.” He whispers. He can feel Stiles’s attention shifting to focus on him, but he can’t look. 

He wets his lips again and turns to look out the window, heart beating hard against his rib cage. “I said that when I found her, all I could think was that I should have known. That I should have been looking out for her. And I was, but not the ways I thought I was.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Stiles rasps. From her corner of his eye, Theo sees his fingers flex around the steering wheel. 

“I’m telling you because even if you don’t trust me and even if you don’t like me, I’m still going to be looking out for you. The way I should have been looking out for her.” He closes his eyes and takes a breath to steady himself. “Stiles, she didn’t just fall in the creek by herself. I pushed her.”

“You  _ bastard-“ _

“Just let me tell you the truth. And I’ll tell Scott, too. All of your pack.” This might destroy any chance of him ever being part of the pack, but he needs to get it off his chest. It’s time to start being honest for once in his fucking life. 

“Fine. All of it.” Stiles warns him. 

“I met the Dread Doctors when I was nine years old. They were looking for someone to manipulate and experiment and they found me in the preserve. I’d been skateboarding in the tunnels and followed a tunnel out into the preserve. Three men in masks surrounded me. I didn’t know what to do. I thought they were going to kill me,” he admits with a deep sigh, “but they didn’t. They said they were doctors and they could cure my medical condition.”

“The hole in your heart?” Stiles guesses. Theo nods and blinks back additional tears. 

“The very same. I asked how they knew and they said they were magic. I was nine years old, I still believed in Santa. So when they told me that my sister wanted me to have her heart so I could be healthy, I believed them. They said it wouldn’t hurt a bit and she would get my heart in return. She was older, they said she could handle it. All I had to do was push her in the creek and they would take care of the rest.” His voice shakes for a moment and he presses his fingers into his thigh, trying to ground himself. 

“And you pushed her in.” Stiles says, no judgement in his voice. 

“They said that her body needed to be kept cold so they could harvest her heart. They told me that she would live without it and be just fine for a few hours. I believed them. They dragged her out and carved out her heart and then tossed her back in. The rescuers thought a wild animal had done it. They took me home and that night, the Dread Doctors killed my parents and took me to the tunnels. They didn’t bother with putting me to sleep while they cut out my heart. When I came to, Tara’s corpse was staring lifelessly from the next table and they told me that her condition had been terminal. I didn’t know until I was a few years older that they’d been lying. For the longest time? I believed they’d been trying to help. And then I didn’t have anyone else. I only had them.”

It’s quiet when he finishes his story. Stiles turns toward him, but Theo can’t look him in the eye. He twists toward the window and takes a few deep breaths, trying to steady himself and the panic that’s rising in his throat, and then Stiles speaks. 

“Why didn’t you tell me and Scott?” He finally asks. It’s not the question he’s expecting and it forces him to draw a staggered breath. 

“Would you have believed me?” He asks. Stiles doesn’t answer. It’s enough.


	8. Chapter 8

Liam is sitting against the lockers with Hayden nuzzling his shoulder in a very feline gesture. He fights a smile until he realizes that she's actually  _ purring. _ Now that's cute as hell. He lets her doze peacefully on his shoulder for a few moments before his restless energy has him up as and moving toward the familiar duffle bag Scott had left on the bench.

He unzips it and sneers down at the chains usually reserved for him on the full moon. He lifts one and the jangle of the links catch Scott's attention. "Do you think these will actually work?" he asks his alpha.

"I don't know." Scott walks over to him. "And I'll be honest, I kind of don't want to find out. I hope this plan works and they won't be able to get in. But I also know that we can't keep letting them get away with killing these kids. So if they can get in, we're going to do what we can to turn this place into a cage."

"Great. So, I'm bait." Hayden looks up at them from her place on the floor.

Scott winces. "I… didn't really think of it like that. I'm sorry."

"Our main priority here is still to keep you safe and away from them, Hayden," Lydia tries to reassure her.

"I know that. I just- there's a giant target on my back and it keeps getting heavier and heavier."

"Hey." Scott crouches down in front of her. "We're going to do everything we can to keep you safe, okay?"

"Okay. Thanks, Scott."

Scott pats her on the knee and stands back up to face Liam. Liam holds up the chains and asks, "Did Theo approve of this plan?"

When neither Scott or Lydia answer him, he comes up with his own. "He doesn't know about this plan."

"We figured it would be a conflict of interest," Lydia says.

"Besides," Scott gestures nervously, a move he no doubt picked up from his years of friendship with Stiles. "He was at the clinic."

"You couldn't have called him and at least asked if it would work? Really guys? The one person who could give us some clarity and you left him out of the loop." Liam drops the chain and crosses his arms.

"Hey, guys." Everyone looks back at Hayden. "I think I forgot my medication. I have a spare bottle in my locker I can go get but-"

"I'll get it," Scott tells her. "No problem. What's your locker combo?"

She rattles it off to him and he and Lydia head for the door. Lydia tells him she'll watch the door while he's gone. Liam sits back down next to Hayden and wraps an arm around her shoulder. "It'll be alright. We've got you."

When several long minutes pass, he can't take it and stands back up. "What's taking so long?"

Hayden scrambles up and stares worriedly at him. A noise catches his attention and he looks around the lockers. "Hayden, did you hear that?"

"They're here, aren't they? They're in the school." She moves to stand behind him.

He starts walking to the door. "Scott? Lydia?"

The door opens to reveal a tall, imposing figure in a faceless mask. The Dread Doctors are here. Liam backs away to grab Hayden and prepare to run. The Dread Doctor follows him.

From behind him, the other two file into the locker room. The one with the cane pauses beside the cell phone jammer. He uses his cane to knock it to the floor.  _ "We're on a frequency you can't possibly imagine."  _ He lifts the cane and slams it into the jammer causing it to shatter.

Liam tugs on Hayden's wrist and starts to run. Before they can take five steps, the tallest one slams him into the wall and the shortest one rips Hayden away from him while the one with the cane watches. Liam struggles against the strong hands holding him up by his throat. From the corner of his eye, he sees the long syringe right before it’s plunged into the side of his neck. 

Hayden screams and he weakly reaches for her as the substance fills his veins, making him weak. He's slung over the shoulder of the tallest one and can see Hayden's limp body carried in the arms of the shortest one.

The Dread Doctors walk out with their prizes as calmly as they'd walked it. Through his blurry vision, Liam watches as they pass Lydia, jerking on the ground, gasping for air. The sound of Scott choking pierces through his muffled hearing. The last thing he sees before the poison overtakes him is Malia silently screaming while invisible vices trap her to the floor.

-

“You know that you’ll never be allowed in the pack.” Stiles says quietly. 

“I know. But I don’t care at the end of all this. If I can just make it out in one piece, that will be enough.” Theo allows the truth that’s been starting to weigh on him to finally take space in the air between them. 

“Do you regret it?” Stiles asks. 

“Every damn day. But I also think how if she was the one here and not me, she would have been killed by now. She was too good to be manipulated.”

“You were just a kid…”

“I was. But I never tried to fight back. I’ve seen things you can’t imagine, Stiles. What these guys are capable of? This barely scratches the surface. Take Donovan for instance. Those teeth in his hand? A wendigo. They plucked the teeth from a teenage wendigo last year, stole some of his venom, and then sent him home to his family. Walcott, I think.” The name sounds vaguely familiar as he says it, but he doesn’t know if it makes a difference. There are hundreds of them bouncing around in his head and he’d stopped being able to connect them to faces years ago. 

“Stole his venom?” Stiles frowns and turns toward him again. “But they’re Native American. Cannibals. The myth says that if you ate human flesh, your punishment was to turn into a creature that constantly craved it.” 

“That’s a pretty judgmental myth,” Theo scoffs and folds his arms over his chest. “The Donner party didn’t turn into wendigos.”

“Well, they didn’t live in Beacon Hills.” They share a laugh at that. “What’s the real story then?” Stiles asks. 

“There might be truth to the beginning of them. But modern wendigos? Generally funeral directors that can consume the flesh of the dead or they work in hospitals and survive off organs that were removed for failing. They don’t have to survive off flesh, but it makes them stronger. We talked about this when you guys read the book,” Theo reminds with a roll of his eyes. 

“Yeah, but back then I still didn’t trust you.”

“And you do now?” Theo raises a brow at that. 

“Not in the slightest. But you told me the truth about your sister and, call me crazy but that gave you some brownie points.”

“Good to know.” Theo smiles a little at that. “So, what do you think the punishment is for killing a chimera?” He asks. 

“You mean besides spending five hours in a car with you?” Stiles grins, looking damn pleased with himself, and Theo knocks their shoulders together. He can’t help but chuckle. “Well, normally it’s that your eyes change color.”

“These look blue to you?” Theo flashes bright gold at him and Stiles shakes his head. “The Dread Doctors engineered me to be the perfect spy. I could get my hands dirty and never be subject to normal laws of the supernatural. No blue eyes, mountain ash doesn’t stop me, and wolfsbane is a bitch but it can’t really kill me. We’re supposed to be unstoppable.”

“And yet you’ve been the only success. Why is that?”

“I wish I knew.” He glances out the window again and takes a deep breath. A whiff of smoke catches his attention and he straightens up, sniffing the air. 

“What is it?” Stiles asks, twisting around in his seat. 

“A scent. Like smoke. Like something burning.” He looks out the window again and watches as Parrish goes ablaze.  _ Fuck.  _ A flaming fist connects with his cheek and he spits blood, his vision going dark. The last thing he feels is scorching heat across the front of his body before he loses consciousness. 

He wakes to the sound of fire crackling, his lungs filled with smoke, and upside down. “Shit,” he groans as he tries to orient himself. The Jeep. Stiles. The animal clinic. It all flashes back to him in jagged pieces that make his head spin. Grunting, he reaches through the window and drags himself through the frame of it. Bits of glass and metal scrape across his skin and clothing, cutting into him, and he staggers onto his feet. There’s no time to try and get himself together. He’s got to save Stiles. 

Stumbling toward the clinic, he reaches through the door and swipes for the fire extinguisher that he knows is on the wall. It takes three tries to get it off the hook. He sprays haphazardly at Stiles’s Jeep and tosses the extinguisher aside a moment later. There’s no way he’s going to be able to put out the flames at this rate. Spitting a mouthful of blood that tastes like ash, he kneels down and drags Stiles through his window. The other boy sputters and lifts up onto his elbows, coughing hard. 

“What happened?” He croaks out. 

“The body’s gone.” Theo says, glancing around the parking lot. There’s no one else in sight. Parrish is long gone by now. But at least they know who is taking the bodies. 

Picking up the discarded fire extinguisher, he resumes putting out the flames at the front of the Jeep. With serious effort, he manages to get it flipped back over a few minutes later. Stiles sits by on the sidelines, watching in dismay. The stink of his anxiety makes Theo want to vomit. 

“We should get you to the hospital,” he says after a beat. “You took in a lot of smoke.” Not enough to kill him, but Theo knows the human body can’t take too much. Stiles is in need of an oxygen tank. His Jeep is fucked all ways to Sunday, but it’s still in driving shape. 

“I’m fine,” Stiles rasps out. He pushes himself up from the gravel and trudges closer, exhaling in frustration. The radio inside whirs to life, a staticky voice emanating. 

“Suspect in 1-8-7 is in custody and en route to station.” Well, at least the police scanner still works. They both come around to the driver’s side window, peering through it at the tiny box. “Suspect’s name is Yukimura, Kira. 

“What’s a 1-8-7?” Theo asks, his brain too tired to try and cycle through the codes he knows. 

“Homicide.” Stiles draws in a shaky breath. 

“We need to get to Scott’s.” Theo opens the driver’s door and climbs in, rolling his eyes as Stiles squeaks in protest. “You’re barely standing on your own and you probably have a concussion. You can bitch about it later.” 

“If you get me a speeding ticket, I will kill you myself.” Stiles warns, poking him firmly in the chest through the window. He goes around the front of the Jeep, wincing and holding his side, and climbs in without another word. 

No one is there when they reach Scott’s house. With both phones busted, they’re helpless but to wait for answers. Theo goes to wash himself up and pauses, frowning as he turns toward the kitchen. Another chimera? He sniffs again and the smell of copper reaches his nostrils. An injured or dead chimera. What the fuck has happened?

He shakes his head and goes to clean up, telling himself that the pack will come soon and give them answers. 

-

The first thing Liam sees when he opens his eyes is a tank with bubbling red liquid in it. He blinks in confusion and looks around to figure out where he's at. The second thing he sees is Hayden looking at him from where she's strapped down on an operating table.

He's hit with the memories of being captured by the Dread Doctors before passing out from whatever the doctors had given him. Hayden looks terrified and it hits him that he's failed to Keep his promise to her. "H-Hayden."

She struggles in her bonds as the sound of the Dread Doctors' boots marching past him fills his ears. He watches helplessly as the one who usually carries a cane walks past holding his helmet, the back of his bald head looks withered and grotesque. He places his helmet on his head and they gather around Hayden's prone form.

"N-no! No! Don't hurt her!" Liam pleads, but they do not acknowledge him. "Hayden! Hayden!"

Liam tries to move but his arm is caught in a vice connected to the red tank. He can do nothing but cry out to her as the Doctors plunge a long syringe into her back. He stops to catch his breath and inspects the device on his arm. It appears to be holding a large tube in place. A tube that is leaking black liquid and sticking out of his skin.

Liam groans and turns onto his side. Whatever they're pumping into him is, it makes every part of him hurt. His hand shakes as he feels around the tube and the device around his arm, trying to pull it out but it hurts so much.

He gasps and falls back, panting. He locks eyes with Hayden, though he's not even sure she sees him anymore. An alarm blares and the Dread Doctors all turn toward him. No. Something behind him. He looks back to see a large green tank with a -man?- in it. The being floating in the tank is hooked up to tubes and an oxygen mask is strapped to his face. It's naked skin is pale and bloated like a waterlogged corpse, but the mask makes Liam think that the poor creature is still alive in the green fluid.

Liam watches as the tallest Doctor inserts a small syringe into a tube sticking out from the tank and fills it with green liquid from the tank. Liam coughs as the Doctor walks back to Hayden's table. He can see the shortest one shining a UV light over Hayden's back. He doesn't know what they see, but the leader says,  _ "Her condition worsens." _

Liam knows that means they'll kill her soon if she doesn't get better. 

"Stop!" He hollers as the tall one passes over the syringe he'd filled and the others start poking and slicing into her again. "Stop hurting her! Stop hurting her!"

The last word ends with a growl as his anger finally lends him the strength to begin to shift. He roars at the tall one as he walks back toward him, eyes flared, fangs bared. The last thing Liam sees before the world goes black is a huge boot falling toward his face.

When he wakes again, it's to the sound of Hayden's body hitting the ground next to him. She gasps in pain, gripping her side. 

"Hayden?" Liam tries, scooting toward her as best he can. "Hayden, are you okay?" he asks when he reaches her side.

She doesn't answer right away, gasping in pain and clutching her side. Finally she says, "It hurts." She glances down at her side. 

Liam follows her gaze and finally sees the barely healed gash below her ribs, oozing black blood. He looks back up at her as she groans in pain.

Fuck. He can help her. He knows he can. He's seen Scott do it a few times, why can't he? "Give me your hand." She lists her hand enough to place it into his. He grips her tight. "There's something that Scott does. He can take away the pain. I- I've never done it before but I can try," he stammers.

She nods and he closes his eyes, trying to concentrate. He grunts in frustration when nothing happens. He lets her go and they both gasp in pain. "I'm sorry."

She doesn't look like she blames him. "Why are they doing this to us?"

"I don't know."

She grabs his hand and they lay there panting in mutual pain for a long moment. He tries again to take her pain but nothing happens. "Why can't I do this?"

"Why do you think Scott can?"

"I've seen him do it. To Stiles, animals at the clinic, a little kid that scraped his knee on the sidewalk. But that's Scott, he cares about everyone." Liam sighs. "And I care about you, so why can't I help you?"

"Well, you're different from Scott. Maybe you have to feel more than friendly and protective toward someone to take their pain. Maybe you have to love them." She squeezes his hand lightly.

"I could love you. But…"

"But not like that." She coughs and then groans. "It's okay, Liam. I see the way you look when you talk about him."

Him. Theo. "I'm not sure I love him either, but I feel something." Liam leans his head back and closes his eyes. "I'm glad he's not here right now. I don't want him to see me like this. And I really don't want to see him pretend like he doesn't care we're here." Or worse. Theo could genuinely not care at all.

They stay side by side on the floor for who knows how long. Finally, Hayden releases his hand and says, "Help me sit up."

"Are you sure?" Liam grunts. 

"Yes. I'm so tired of laying down. Besides, maybe I can help you get out of that thing." She nods down at the contraption around his arm.

"Okay. Alright, okay." Liam grits his teeth and uses his free arm to lever himself into a sitting position. He groans at the exertion, but turns to help Hayden sit up as well. 

Together, they managed to get her upright and her back against the green tank. Liam scoots next to her and they sit there panting and waiting for the pain buzzing around in their bodies to quiet itself before trying to do anything else. 

She starts poking around the device. "Christ," she murmurs. "This has to hurt."

"Yeah, it smarts a little." Liam snarks before leaning his head back against the tank. "Pull the tube out first."

She tugs on it and he bites his lip as the connection is jarred but the tube doesn't budge. "Shit. Sorry. I think I have to loosen it first."

She fiddles with the metal bit holding the tube in place then starts to pull again. This time the tube moves back and Liam cries out in pain as he feels the tube drag under his skin. It takes four long pulls for the tube to come out, black liquid still pumping through the metal tip. Liam hurries and covers the open wound with his hand, gasping in pain and relief.

"It's alright," Hayden pants. "I'm sorry, are you okay?"

Liam nods and looks up at her. "It'll heal." He smiles tentatively at her. "We'll both heal."

She smiles back. Before they can celebrate their victory, Liam sees the tall Dread Doctor appear behind Hayden.

He cries out her name and she shrieks as the Doctor grabs her shoulder and plunges a syringe into her neck. Restraining hands hold him down as the leader leans over him with a large needle. "No! No!"

He tries to struggle but he cannot stop them from sliding the needle into his tear duct. He screams out in pain. He can feel the needle burrowing into head and then a faint sucking as the Doctor extracts whatever he is inside Liam that he wants. Liam doesn't dare move, reminding himself that he'll heal from this. 

After far too long, the needle finally starts to retreat and Liam screams again at the pain. When the Doctor pulls back, Liam's eyesight is unfocused. He struggles weakly against the hands holding him. 

The needle disappears and in the Doctor's hand is now a pair of pliers. At first he doesn't understand what they're for, but then then the Doctor holding him grabs his hand and digs her thumb into his palm. His claws involuntarily release and the head Doctor grips his thumb. Liam thrashes against them but it does him no good. The pliers grip his claw and rips it from the nail bed.

Liam screams. He screams and screams as his claws are ripped out one by one. By the time the Dread Doctors are through with him, his throat is sore and his hands are in agony. Black spots appear in his vision but he sees Hayden passed out on the floor before everything goes dark.


	9. Chapter 9

Theo wakes to the front door opening. He cranes his neck over the back of the couch, watching as Mason guides Corey inside toward the stairwell. “Mason?” He asks, rubbing at his face. 

“Scott said for us to come here. I’m going to get Corey to start reading the book. He should be back with everyone soon.” Mason says, keeping his voice low. 

“Any word from how their night went?” He asks, getting up from the couch and stretching. 

“I saw you at the hospital,” Corey murmurs. 

“Yeah, you did.” Theo doesn’t move his gaze from Mason. 

“Nothing yet. I’m sure they’ll fill us in when they get here,” Mason says. He doesn’t sound so convinced. Together the pair head upstairs and Theo sighs, cracking his neck. He goes to the front porch and steps outside, hoping there will be someone soon, but the minutes drag by. 

Half an hour later, Lydia is parking in the front of the house. She wordlessly brushes past him and says something quiet to Stiles before going upstairs. Malia follows right after and goes into the living room, giving Theo an unrecognizable look. When Liam and Hayden don’t emerge from the car, he knows something is wrong. Scott’s bike is just down the street, but the answers can’t wait. 

“What happened?” He demands, walking into the living room. Malia and Stiles are standing in front of the couch and her mouth drops open. 

“Theo…” She starts. The screen door is thrown open and Scott surges through the door, emanating anger and raw power as he crosses the house. 

“Hey, is Kira okay?” Stiles asks. He ducks his head and doesn’t answer, continuing toward the stairwell at an alarming pace.

“Scott?” Theo questions, starting after him. 

“...sorry, I’m only on chapter two.” Corey is saying from Scott’s guest bedroom. “I’m kind of a slow reader.”

“Oh, that’s okay, Corey.” Mason assures. 

“He’s right,” Scott breathes out heavily as he strides into the room. “We don’t have time for that.”

“No, Scott, don’t!” Theo enters the room as Lydia cries out and watches as the true alpha buries his claws in Corey’s neck. Stiles and Malia brush past him and Lydia puts out her arm. “Don’t get too close.”

“What is he doing?” Theo asks, frowning. Corey’s eyes are fluttered shut and he doesn’t seem to be in pain. 

“Tapping into Corey’s memories.” Lydia explains. “It’s usually something only alphas do.” His curious nature rises to the surface and he slowly circles around Scott, studying the two of them. 

“Is it as dangerous as it looks?”

“Probably more,” Stiles sighs. 

“Does anyone know if it’s working?” Mason questions. 

“Why is he trying to dig into his memories?” Theo forces himself to tear his gaze away and looks at the other four in the room. “What happened last night?”

“The Dread Doctors came,” Lydia says without meeting his eyes. “We were going to try and protect Hayden at the school and use cell phone jammers to stop the doctors or catch them if they came-“

“You thought you could catch them?!” Theo feels his fangs itch against his gums and he suppressed a growl. “Where. Is. Liam.” The words come out slowly, each more deadly than the last. 

Scott rips his claws free and gasps, stumbling back from the foot of the bed. Corey sags forward and while Mason rushes to catch him, Stiles grabs hold of Scott to steady him. “Is he okay?” He asks between breaths, slumping over a desk while trying to catch his breath. 

“What the hell did you do to me?!” Corey cries, touching the back of his neck. 

“You’ll be fine.” Scott insists. 

“There’s blood.” Corey whimpers, shaking as he studies the crimson coating his fingers. 

“You’ll heal.” Scott snaps back at him, no kindness in his tone. 

“Scott.” Stiles starts. 

“He’ll be fine!” The words are tinged with the power of an alpha and Theo bows his head forward, fangs gnashing together. “Listen, I think it worked.” He gasps, straightening up. “I saw something.”

“Is anyone going to answer me?” Theo growls. 

“There were tunnels,” Scott continues as he picks up a notepad and a pencil. “Pipes along the walls. At least two huge blue pipes at the entrance.” He and Stiles continue to speak and Theo turns to Lydia, baring his fangs. 

“Tell me what happened,” he demands. 

“The Dread Doctors came and they got Hayden and Liam. They’ve been missing since last night.” She says quietly. Theo’s heart roars in his ears and he stumbles back a step.  _ Not him, not him. He’s not supposed to be involved,  _ his mind whispers. In his peripheral, she slips past him and joins Scott and Stiles. 

“You didn’t think to fucking tell me sooner?” He snarls, whirling to face the true alpha and his pathetic pack. 

“We can find them,” Scott insists as he waves his notepad. “The water treatment plant. That’s where they are.” Theo releases a bitter laugh. That’s not even close to correct. Sure, the tunnels connect to the others underground, but they go on for miles. Scott and the others will never be able to find Liam and Hayden. They won’t be able to find the operating theatre without him, it’s too deep and too well hidden. 

“You don’t stand a chance,” he hisses. “Your incompetence-“ But Scott isn’t listening. He tosses down the notepad and leaves the room, the others hot on his heels. 

“Scott. Scott, slow down. Just think for a second, okay?” Stiles pleads as they follow him down the stairs. “We can’t go charging into this, especially not Mason and Corey.”

“Liam’s my best friend, I’m going.” Mason says firmly. Theo rumbles low in his chest and Corey’s step falters next to him. 

“Oh, did you suddenly get super wolf powers?” Stiles asks. Everyone grinds to a halt in the living room and Theo’s nose itches. Anxiety runs rampant, mixed with fear, desperation, and an undercurrent of anger. “I wasn’t aware of that development,” Stiles continues. Theo has to give him credit. Even under pressure, he’s able to keep his head and think logically. 

“Are you not coming?” Scott raises a brow. 

“Of course I am, I’m your best friend. I just need to talk to my dad and warn him. They’re moving the body of the girl Kira killed and he wants to be sure no one steals it. Whoever took the last one was strong enough to flip my Jeep. I don’t want him to get hurt.” Stiles explains. Theo raises a brow at that. Had Stiles not seen that it was Parrish? 

“Then we can bring Theo.” Malia points him out and he shakes his head, jaw clenching. As much as he wants to storm in and rip the Dread Doctors apart for touching Liam, going in with the pack will get them all killed.

“I can’t.” He grits out through his teeth. “Someone should be here in case the Dread Doctors make a house call for Corey.”

“And you’d stop them?” Lydia raises a brow and he curses her for calling his bluff. “We all need to slow down and think.”

“Liam and Hayden might already be dead!”

“And you could have seriously hurt Corey!” Lydia flings her arms toward the chimera. “Scott-“

“I have to find Liam.” His voice shakes. He’s gone before anyone can stop him and Malia follows after, Stiles quickly rushing after. 

“You’re all idiots!” Lydia yells after them before turning to Theo. “You know where they are, don’t you?” 

“I do. I’m going to get them back.” Theo says, swallowing down his anger. For weeks, he’s been terrified of the shadows at his back and has bent over backwards to cover his tracks and keep them happy. But not today. Not this time. 

“Do you think Liam is still alive?” Lydia voices the question that he’s been refusing to consider. “He’s not a chimera-“

“They could make him one like they did me. Harvest his parts.” Theo answers in a poor attempt at being clinical. His heart beats faster at the thought, stomach churning. They could be carving Liam into pieces right now. “I’m going,” he croaks out as he takes a step toward the door. “I’m going to find them and bring them back. Don’t let those fuckers touch Corey,” he growls before storming out the door. He hears Lydia shout something after him, but he can’t focus on it. He has to find Liam. 

-

Liam wakes up on another concrete floor that is somehow filthier than the one in the he'd passed out on. He looks to his right to see Hayden still passed out. "Hayden?" He turns onto his side and nudges her shoulder. "Hayden, wake up."

Hayden gasps awake and looks down at the gash on her side, then around the room. "Where are we?"

"I don't know." They look around to see themselves in a dusty room with light streaming through has huge hole in the wall. In front of the hole is a floor to ceiling chain link fence. Liam lifts himself up, grunting in pain. He stumbles over to the gate. He reaches out to it, pausing to grimace at the bloody, empty nailbeds at the ends of his aching fingers. 

Gritting his teeth, he grabs the fence and immediately electricity shocks through him, throwing him back on the floor. Liam groans and Hayden grabs him, patting him to see if he's okay.

A giggle catches their attention and they turn around to see a boy sitting on the ground under a shadowy space. "Sorry," he says, not sounding that sorry at all. "I probably should have warned you."

"Who are you?" Liam asks.

"My name's Zach. And I think the better question is... what am I?" Liam and Hayden know exactly what he is, but Liam isn't sure Zach needs to know that. "It's okay. I'm just like you-- one of the experiments. Hey! Maybe you could help me with something." Zach starts to drag himself toward them by his arms. Liam guesses his legs are injured from the Dread Doctors experiments. "The guys in the masks? They took something off my back. I don't know what it was, but I can feel part of it still there."

Liam really can't believe this conversation is happening. "You want us to look?"

"Is that okay?" Zach asks earnestly. 

Liam and Hayden look at each other and then Liam nods at the other boy. Zach turns his back to them and lifts his shirt and hoodie to reveal two, large scabbed over nubs over his shoulder blades. As they look, the nubs flutter quickly.

"Wings," Liam says in disbelief. "They cut off wings."

"And I thought spots were weird." Hayden sighs as Zach lowers his shirt, hissing is it lowers over his sore nubs. 

"Wings," Zach murmurs. "I don't even remember getting to fly." He turns back around and looks at Liam. "You're Liam Dunbar, aren't you?"

Liam squints at him. "How do you know that?"

"I was a year ahead of you at Devonford. Our paths didn't really cross with you being a lax jock and I'm a comic book nerd, but you're infamous." Zach shrugs. 

"Great." Liam sighs and stands back up to look around the rest of the room.

"You think nobody else thought to look for another way out?" Zach asks.

Liam doesn't care. His wolf is tired of being restrained and caged and hurt. He limps around the room, smelling at corners and around tables. He growls lowly and walks back to the fence, lifting a hand to touch it with one finger. "ARGH!" Fuck, that hurts. "Ugh!"

Zach chuckles at his stupidity. "We're not getting out of here."

"You could be a little optimistic," Hayden tells him as Liam drops back down beside her.

"It's kinda hard when you watch three people get dragged out of here screaming."

"What happened to 'em?" Liam asks.

"They were failures." Of course they were. "That's all they said. First, you forget. You don't know who you are or what you're doing. Then, you get violent. I watched two of them almost kill each other. One of them had a nasty looking cut, just like that." Zach nods at Hayden's side.

Hayden quickly lowers her shirt over the wound.

"Don't worry. Black is okay. It's only really over when you start bleeding other stuff. When it starts turning silver."

"Mercury." Liam confirms.

Zach nods. "That's when they know you're really a failure."

Anger pulses through Liam. "How many more failures are there supposed to be?"

"Who knows? But doesn't it make you wonder what the success is going to look like? I mean, what are we turning into? Something with claws and fangs?"

"Something with wings?" Liam asks.

Hayden shakes her head. "Something worse."

They talk until nightfall, trading information they know about the chimeras and the Dread Doctors. When the sun goes down, Zach scoots back to his cubby and Liam and Hayden settle against the wall. 

Hayden is dozing against Liam's shoulder when the lights outside start to flicker.

Zach sits up. "They're coming." No sooner than the words leave his mouth, a trickle of silver drips out of his nose. He puts his finger to his nose and pulls it away to see. "Oh, God!"

Liam frowns at him and then a large shadow appears at the gate.

"No, no, no, no!" Zach yells as the Dread Doctors pushes open the gate. He starts to push himself back. "No! NO!"

"Leave him alone!" Liam hollers, pulling himself unsteadily to his feet.

"Stop it!" Hayden yells at the Doctor as he grabs Zach's collar and starts to drag him out of the room.

"Help me! Help me!" Zach cries out. Liam steps forward to try to intervene when a huge, familiar boot crashes into his chest and he's hurled back into the wall. All he can hear is Zach's desperate pleas. "No! No! Wait! No! Help me!"

Liam's ears start ringing and he can't catch his breath. He can barely hear Hayden calling out his name. He chokes and finally, finally sucks in a deep breath that feels like knives in his lungs. Fuck, he must have broken some ribs. Liam doesn't try to move as he wills his body to heal just a little bit more.

-

Liam’s scent floods Theo’s nostrils as he enters the operating theatre. He can taste the copper on his tongue, feels the fear and anxiety wrap around his throat like a goddamn noose, and everything in him burns red. His fangs drop into his mouth, claws digging into his palm, as he storms into the room. The Dread Doctors don’t even blink. One of them is standing over the body of a dead chimera on the floor, bathing in a pool of mercury. The others are retrieving a vial of green liquid, adding them to the collection of three on the table closest to Theo. 

“Liam was  _ never _ part of the deal.” He spits in anger, seething at the trio. “He’s no good to you-“

“Inconsequential.” The surgeon cuts him off, pulling his cane from the dead body and turning toward him. He doesn’t wither under the state he receives. Not this time. 

“Not to me!” He snarls, letting his anger flood his voice. The other two give pause at that and he can see the gears turning in their heads. “It was one thing to make a play for Josh right under our noses at the club. You put me in an impossible position and you knew it.” He warns, stepping in front of the table. Squaring his shoulders, he drifts one clawed hand back and carefully moves it across the surface. His fingertip brushes against a vial and he grabs it, shoving it into his back pocket. It’s not enough for all of them, but a few is a damn good number. 

“Inconsequential.” The surgeon repeats. All three take a step closer and he shifts back from the table, heart pounding in his chest. 

“No,” he forces out. “I’m done with this. It was one thing when they didn’t know you were in town. But they know. They’re not going to stop until you’re all six feet under. And I’ll gladly join them in tearing you apart.” He promises. He glances around the room, looking for anything else of value, and then he sees a jar.  _ Liam Dunbar Experiment #671 _ is taped over it. Inside, he can see black and bloodstained claws. He feels like his heart freezes over. 

“He was never a part of this.” He distantly hears the words come out of his mouth, but he can’t focus on them. Liam wasn’t a genetic chimera like the others. They hadn’t needed him. They could have taken Hayden and left Liam unconscious on the ground. They don’t ever care about taking witnesses. To change their MO now…

“You knew.” The realization slams into his chest and it makes him stagger back. “You knew this whole time. That’s why you didn’t tell me that Parrish was taking the bodies. You were keeping me distracted.” A hysterical laugh bubbles through him and he doesn’t try to hold it back. “Of fucking course you knew.”

It was all starting to make sense. They could have come onto the roof at any moment to kill Josh and preserve his cover with the pack. But they’d known that he was betraying them, even when he hadn’t consciously made the decision to go through with it. It was why they hadn’t revealed Hayden to him. She’d been the card clutched to their chests, biding time until the moment suited them. 

“She’s not the one you wanted.” He manages to choke out.  _ Liam. Liam. Liam.  _ The name loops in his mind and he stumbles again, scenting the air. He knows where they are. They’re in the cell that Theo had nicknamed ‘The Graveyard’ because it’s where they put all of their failures. 

“They’re going to stop you,” he says as he turns his back on them. If they wanted to kill him they would have done so already. 

“You’ll always be a failure,” the surgeon warns to his back. A humorless laugh spills from his lips and he pauses, swiping his tongue across his fangs. For a brief moment, he can taste the rust of metal and decaying flesh. What he wouldn’t give to sink his teeth into them. 

“No,” Theo murmurs. He cocks his head, pivoting around on his heel to stare defiantly at the Dread Doctors. “For once, I’m not your failure. You’re the ones who screwed up. And honestly? Your first mistake was using me to kill my sister.” He bares his fangs, Tara’s heart slamming against his ribs. He’s spent a fucking decade terrified of these sick bastards, but today is the last day. He’s not afraid anymore. He’s  _ pissed.  _

“I’m going to come back and pick you off one by one,” he vows. “And when I do, you’ll know what it feels like to lose everything you care about. I’ll start with burning this place to the fucking ground.” Snapping his fangs, he turns and dashes down the tunnels. The vial of green is tucked safely in his back pocket. When he gets back to the pack, they’ll figure out who to use it on. But right now, Liam is his priority. 

“Hang on, little wolf.” He murmurs, following the buzzing of the electric fence. “I’m on my way.”


	10. Chapter 10

Liam can hardly breathe as Hayden drags him into a sitting position. The new arrangement is easier on his lungs but the rattle that sounds when he breathes is concerning. Fuck, everything hurts so goddamn much. His chest is nothing but agony, his arm is still sore from the device the Dread Doctors had strapped to him and the tube they’d fed under his skin, his fingers ached where his claws used to be, and his blood still felt like it was on fire from the black shit they’d pumped into him. 

He’s really starting to think that it’s too much. That he’s probably not going to survive all of the damage that has been piled on top of him.

A buzzing sound starts and he’s worried that he’s hearing things, then he realizes that it’s probably the Dread Doctors coming back for one or both of them. He turns his head toward the gate. “They’re coming back,” he rasps.

Hayden grips her side with one hand and his hand with the other, staring owlishly at the gate. The breath punches out of Liam’s abused lungs when, instead of the Dread Doctors, Theo comes sprinting around the corner and through the hole.

“Liam! Hayden!” Theo doesn’t pause as he reaches for the gate.

“Don’t,” Liam weakly tries to warn him, but it’s too late. 

Theo grabs the chain link and electricity shoots through him, throwing him onto his back.

“Theo!” Liam leans toward the chimera, desperate to make sure he’s okay.

“Theo? Are you okay?” Hayden asks.

Theo reaches up to the back of his head, grimacing. “Yeah. I’m fine.” He pushes himself up. “I just forgot about that.”

“Do you think you can get help?” Hayden pulls Liam upright again.

“I am the help.” Theo looks Liam over for a moment and Liam swears he sees rage and relief mingling in his inscrutable gaze. 

His eyes shift back to the gate and his face becomes a mask of reckless determination. He deliberately grabs the fence, eyes flaring and fangs bared. He grits his teeth as electricity surges through him and he continues to pull the gate apart. One long moment passes. Two. And then finally, finally the gate breaks open and Theo roars triumphantly. Or in pain. Liam is too tired to try to sort it all out and is way too goddamn relieved to think about anything besides their impending escape.

Theo pants for a few moments before crossing the threshold and crouching beside them. “Can you walk?” he asks them.

The idea of standing sounds more impossible than Theo rescuing them. Liam attempts to drag his legs beneath him, but the effort is sluggish.

“Fuck,” is all Theo can say as he watches him. He turns to Hayden. “What about you?”

“I can stand if you help me. And I can probably walk. It’ll be slow, though.”

“Slow is better than me having to make two trips to carry both of you.” Theo stands and holds his arm out for her to hold on to while he helps her up. She grips her side but otherwise stays on her feet. “Okay, Liam. I’ve got you.” Theo bends down and scoops Liam up in his arms. 

Liam feels vaguely embarrassed about being carried around like a damsel in distress but another part of him is reveling at the feel of being in Theo’s strong arms. Mostly, though, he just feels pain. So. Much. Pain.

“Use me as a crutch if you have to,” Theo tells Hayden and they slowly make their way out of the basement of the abandoned house that had served as their prison.

The crisp, fresh air of the outside world feels like freedom to his crushed lungs and Liam wants to cry at the sight of Theo’s big blue truck. He’s really free. Theo really saved him. Theo defied the Dread Doctors and came to find Liam and Hayden, to steal them from right under their noses. Liam’s stomach drops at the thought.

“Theo,” Liam murmurs. “Theo, what about the Dread Doctors? Won’t they find out it was you? Won’t you be in trouble?”

“Don’t worry about it, Liam.” Theo pauses by the truck and tells Hayden that the back is unlocked and asks if she can climb in by herself. At her affirmation, he carries Liam around to the other side of the truck and carefully places him in the back seat.

“But what if they try to kill you?” Liam’s voice is high and reedy.

Theo sighs. “If they wanted to kill me, I’d already be dead. They knew, Liam. They knew the whole time. It’s why they took you. Hayden was a happy bonus they picked up at the school. They could continue their experiments on her while punishing me by taking you.”

“Why would taking me be punishment for you?”

Theo once again looks at him with that inscrutable expression. Instead of answering, he says, “I'm done with them; I told them so myself. I'm officially with you." He reaches out toward Liam's face but stops before his fingers make contact. "They should've never touched you," he growls. "Let’s get you back to your pack.”

Theo pulls away and closes the back door, then opens the driver's door and climbs in behind the steering wheel. The truck starts and the sound of the engine pulls Liam toward unconsciousness. 

He hears Theo's voice but doesn't understand the words before the world goes black.

-

When Liam doesn’t answer him, Theo’s gaze shifts to the mirror. “Liam?” He repeats, voice rising as fear grips him. 

“He’s still breathing,” Hayden says. She’s got a palm pressed flat to Liam’s chest, her eyes meeting Theo’s in the mirror. Worry creases her brow and he pressed harder on the gas pedal. After all of this shit, he’s not losing Liam. “He’s not healing,” she adds to his concern. “Isn’t he supposed to be healing?”

“What all did they do to him?” He asks, fingers tightening around the steering wheel. It creaks ominously beneath the extra pressure and he forces himself to take a breath. His fingers relax a fraction, but he’s still too tense. They’re still a couple of miles out from the McCall household. He’s tempted to roll down his window and howl, but his wolf is stronger and he can’t. Liam is  _ his _ to protect. The fact that Hayden’s got a hold on him in the backseat is already making his fangs gnash and grind together. 

“I don’t know, I was unconscious for a lot of it. There was this black fluid they were pumping into him. I don’t know what it was.”

“Wolfsbane.” Theo grits out. “The Dreads have their own special blend to sedate their experiments and keep them from fighting back. It helps boost our immunity to it. Using it on a true werewolf…” His chest goes impossibly tight.  _ Poisoned.  _ Liam’s got toxins running through his veins and it could be slowly killing him. “How long?” He croaks. 

“How long…?”

“How fucking long was it in him?” Theo snaps, jerking the wheel into a sharp turn. Hayden lets out a small yelp as it sends her into the door and flares at him, but he doesn’t give her an apology. It’s her fault that Liam is in this condition. 

“A few hours, maybe? I pulled it out, but it was pretty bad. Wolfsbane hurts us?”

“Lethal in most cases to werewolves and humans.” Theo says, flicking his gaze to the vial that’s sitting in his cup holder. There’s enough that he might be able to give Liam a small dose if he doesn’t start healing, but it’s a risk. He has no idea how well it will work on a werewolf. 

“Okay, so that’s one thing they did. They also took out his claws-“

“I know.” Theo swallows down his anger. “I saw the jar of them in the lab. Did they inject him with anything else? Operate on him at all?”

“I don’t think so, but I wasn’t always conscious.” Hayden says. He presses harder on the gas. 

When they reach Scott’s, he parks haphazardly and throws open his door. “Can you still walk?” He asks as he gets open the back door, already lifting Liam from her arms. His wolf whines, eager to press its nose down against his throat, and he shoves down the feeling. 

“Yeah, I think so.” Hayden says. Theo tightens his grip on Liam and together they walk to the house. The beta groans lightly, but otherwise doesn’t stir in his grasp. 

Corey opens the door for them, his eyes widening as he takes in their appearances. “Move,” Theo snaps as he pushes past him. Corey immediately springs into action, helping Hayden over the threshold, and he takes her toward the couch. “Get her cleaned up first,” Theo says over his shoulder as he carries Liam upstairs. 

“What happened?” Lydia meets him at the top of the landing. A hand flies to her mouth and Theo shakes his head, stepping around her. He dutifully carries Liam’s limp body into the bathroom and sets him in the tub, glancing back at Lydia. 

“I need to bandage his wounds. Find some bandages and fresh clothes for both of them,” he says. Turning back to his charge, he leans Liam against the wall and turns on the bath water. As it runs warm, he grabs a washcloth from under the sink and shrugs off his jacket. “Hey, little wolf,” he murmurs. “Bet you weren’t expecting this turn of events.” Rolling up his sleeves, he dips the washcloth under the faucet. Wringing it out, he sets it across the side of the tub and leans forward to lift Liam up. Getting him out of his shirt is a challenge, but he needs to check for any other injuries. Black liquid is still running from his arm, the scent of combined wolfsbane clogging his nostrils, and he swallows past the lump in his throat. 

“You’re gonna be fine, pup.” He whispers, tossing the ruined shirt behind him. The washcloth gets picked back up and he cleans Liam’s face first, gently tugging at his eyelids to check his pupils. His stomach rolls as he sees the familiar prick that’s naked to the normal eye and he has to stop for a moment. Liam doesn’t smell different, wolfsbane aside. He doesn’t smell like a chimera. Which means they’ve taken something from him, something else that’s floating in a jar. 

He’s not aware that he’s growling until Lydia steps into the room and the noise dies down. “Bandages,” she says softly while placing them on the closed toilet seat. “Will he be okay?”

“He’s not healing.” Theo says, glancing back at the wound and checking to assess the others. Now that Liam’s shirtless, he can see the bruising over his torso. Broken ribs. His fingernails are bloodied from where his claws had been ripped out, but thankfully that bleeding has stopped. “Did you call Scott and the others?”

“I did. They’re on their way back.” Lydia sighs. “This shouldn’t have happened-“

“You’re goddamn right about that.” Theo snorts bitterly. “I need you to go to my truck. There’s a green vial in the front cup holder. Get it and bring it inside. Do  _ not _ let anyone else touch it.” The last thing they need is to lose their advantage against the Dread Doctors. 

“Are you going to be okay?” She asks, unmoving. 

“I don’t know.” He admits with a half shrug. He’s too exhausted to analyze the situation. Right now, Liam is his main focus. 

“Have you tried taking his pain? To kickstart his healing?” She asks, settling a hand on his shoulder. He flinches away from the gentle touch and swallows. 

“Please just go to my truck,” he whispers. She doesn’t say anything, but her hand falls away and he feels her leave the room. Without her looking over his shoulder, he wraps his fingers around Liam’s wrist and locks his gaze onto him. 

“You need to heal,” he tells him. The words come out as a low growl and his heart pounds in his chest. He pictures it, imagines the thick black veins crawling up his body and transferring the pain, but nothing happens. It’s supposed to work. Why doesn’t it? 

“Do you have to be so stubborn?” He snaps at Liam, dropping his limp wrist and reaching for the washcloth again. He scrubs at his skin, being gentle around the edges of his wounds, and bandages him up. Cutting off the water, he lifts Liam out of the tub and into the bedroom. A fresh shirt and sweatpants are waiting for him. He tries not to think about the naked skin under his fingertips, focusing on getting Liam into clothes that don’t stink. 

By the time he carries Liam downstairs, Hayden is half-asleep on the couch with a blanket thrown over her. He carefully sets Liam down to rest beside her, hoping that the presence of his pack mates will assist in his healing. There’s the sound of a car outside and then Scott is walking in, relief flooding his face as Theo steps back from the beta. 

Watching him enter the room feels like a match lighting under his skin. 

He suppresses every chemosignal at once, a neutral mask slipping into place after years of practice. Scott turns to him, a look of pure joy on his face, and he makes an aborted movement to hug him. Theo takes all of his anger and fear, bringing them to the surface and he closes the distance and wraps his arms around Scott. “He wouldn’t have ever been in that situation if it hadn’t been for you,” he murmurs. 

He relishes the choked noise that the alpha makes when he buries his claws in his back. 


	11. Chapter 11

A roar drags Liam back to the surface.

Scott.

Alpha.

In pain.

Liam lifts his heavy eyelids. It takes him a few moments to understand what his blurry vision is showing him, what he hears over the ringing in his ears. 

Malia: fangs bared and snarling as she cradles her bloody arm, three long, deep gashes across her forearm slowly knitting together. Stiles: hovering over her; yelling, yelling. Mason and another boy: peeking from around the kitchen doorway. Hayden: clinging to Lydia, eyes screwed shut. Lydia: eyes vacant, a silent scream curving her mouth. Scott: on his back, face twisted in pain, arms lifted in defense. And Theo: straddling his alpha, tearing his claws into every bit of flesh he can reach. 

Slashes on Scott's arms, face, chest, belly. Scott's arms fall, shaking. Theo lifts his clawed hand for one final, fatal swipe. "Your fault." Theo snarls. "All your fault."

The words pierce through the heavy fog in Liam's mind. Words so familiar, so often a lie fueled by anger and other powerful emotions. "Theo."

Theo freezes, his eyes snapping toward Liam. 

"Theo, stop. Stop hurting him."

Theo flings himself away from the injured alpha and scrambles to Liam's side. "Liam!" He reaches out to touch but pauses when he catches sight of his own bloody claws. "His plan got you kidnapped. You could've died because of him."

"Not him. He didn't know. Just trying to protect Hayden."

"He could've asked me! He should've asked me if the plan could work. I would've told him it wouldn't."

"Still not Scott's fault." Liam reaches out to grab Theo's sleeve. "The Dread Doctors wanted me. They would've taken me from anywhere. You know this, Theo. You know them."

Scott coughed and sat up. "They wanted Liam?"

Theo growls and starts to turn toward the alpha, but Liam tugs on his sleeve and he turns back. "You're officially with me, remember? Stay with me."

Scott opens his mouth to say something else, but Stiles takes a step forward. "Uh, Scotty? Let's give Theo a minute to calm down, huh? Get you upstairs and clean you up."

"We're giving  _ Theo  _ a minute? After that?" Malia asks incredulously. 

"Yes." Stiles answers, pulling Scott to his feet. "Lots of pent up emotions and trauma are leaking out and I think it's best if we stay out of the line of fire until Liam brings him back."

Scott's face relaxes as realization hits him. Well good for him, because Liam is still confused. Malia growls  _ fine _ as she follows them up the stairs. Lydia mutters something about checking Hayden’s bandages and gently helps the other girl stand and leads her toward the kitchen. Mason sends Liam a worried look but Liam smiles tiredly at him and nods to him to let him know he’ll be okay with Theo. Mason and the other boy -Corey?- move out of sight as well.

It’s just Liam and Theo and Theo hasn’t taken his eyes off of Liam’s face. Liam thinks he hears Stile say something about an anchor before he’s distracted by Theo trying to lift his shirt. “What are-”

“Just let me look.” Theo lifts it until the bruised mess of his chest is visible and Liam gasps weakly at the damage. 

His entire body throbs in pain and he moans, tipping his head back to keep his tears in check. The last thing he needs is to set Theo off any more. 

“You’re still not healing,” Theo growls.

Liam hisses through his teeth. “Hurts so much. Can’t- Can’t concentrate on anything else.”

“I- I tried taking your pain but I can’t. I-”

“It’s okay,” Liam murmurs, a little sad and a little confused as to why he’s sad. “I couldn’t take Hayden’s either.” That makes Theo grit his teeth harder and Liam doesn’t understand how that statement had pissed him off. “Look, Theo. I know you don’t want to hear it, but Scott can help.” Theo growls. “He can!” Liam scowls. “Well, he could before you tore into him. Maybe he’s too hurt now, too.”

Liam has to stop talking to catch his breath. 

Theo gently grabs his hand and examines his fingers. “I saw your claws in a jar and I lost it. You were never supposed to be a part of their game. They weren’t supposed to touch you at all.”

“But they did because of you.”

Theo looks away. “My fault.”

_ “No,”  _ Liam says with as much force as he can muster. “It’s a hundred percent their fault, okay. Their decision to hurt you all those years ago when they stole you and their decision to hurt you now by hurting me. I don’t know what life was like for you all those years, what you’ve done, what they made you do. But I do know who you are now, who you’re trying to be. You didn’t sacrifice me to them. Neither did Scott.” Liam finally releases Theo’s sleeve and grabs his hand instead, dragging his thumb over his claws, flecked with dry blood until they melt into blunt human fingernails. He lets out a rattling sigh. “I didn’t die and I will heal, but I need you to let my pack help me, okay?”

Theo’s breath is almost as ragged as his own. “Okay. Okay, okay. I’m- I’m sorry I-”

“No, I know. And so do they.”

Liam keeps Theo’s hand in his as the chimera presses his forehead against Liam’s hip. How he knew that was one of the few places that didn’t hurt, Liam doesn’t want to know. After a few minutes, Stiles makes his way halfway down the stairs to ask if it was all clear. Liam nods and everyone slowly files back into the room.

When Scott reaches the bottom of the stairs, Theo turns around to lean his back against the couch. He looks up at the alpha and the way he’s holding his arms against his chest. Theo winces and stares at his stained hands. “Scott, I’m sorry. I didn’t want- No, I did. I just-”

“I know.” Scott reaches up and slides a finger over a healing cut on his face. “I understand, Theo, I do. So, I’m not going to hold it against you. This time.” Liam fights back the inexplicable urge to growl. “You and I both know I cannot afford to allow this kind of behavior to persist.”

The power of Alpha causes Theo to tilt his head slightly. “I know.”

“Good. We all lose control from time to time. I’m not infallible.” He turns toward the kitchen and looks at Corey, who shrinks under his gaze and Scott flinches at the response. “Corey, I’m so sorry. My only excuse is that losing a beta is like… It’s indescribable. But I still shouldn’t have done what I did and I really am sorry.” Corey gives him a jerky nod and Scott accepts the acknowledgment of his apology. He turns back to Theo. “So, Theo, I’ll let it be water under the bridge and we can move on. We still need you and you still need us.” Scott takes a few steps forward. “I’m going to help my beta now. Do you need another minute before I do?”

“No. He’s not healing.” 

“I’m going to help,” Scott repeats and steps closer. When Theo doesn’t move from his place, doesn’t even look at him, Scott kneels next to the couch and looks down at Liam. “Hey, man.”

“Scott, it hurts.”

Theo whines softly, but Scott just grabs his free wrist with both hands. He grimaces as black lines travel up his arms. Liam sighs in relief as the pain lessens to a manageable level. He feels the bones in his chest expand away from his lungs as they straighten out and fuse back together. He takes his first deep breath in hours. “Thank you.”

“None of that.” Scott gently chastises. “You and Theo were right. I should have asked for Theo’s opinion of the plan before trying to execute it. We thought the cell phone jammers would be enough.”

Theo snorts but it’s Liam who says, “They are on a frequency we can’t even imagine.”

“I’m starting to.” Scott stands to walk over to the chair Lydia had guided Hayden to sit in. “May I?”

Hayden nods and Scott picks up her arm, pushing back the sleeve of his shirt she was borrowing so he can grip her wrist with both hands. He hisses as the back veins travel up his arms once again. When she gasps and brushes her hand over her side, Scott slumps back. Liam is relieved to see Hayden feeling marginally better but he’s worried about how pale Scott looks. 

Stiles must feel the same because he steps forward and helps Scott stand. “That’s enough, oh True Alpha. You can’t run yourself ragged trying to save everyone else. Then you’ll be no good to anybody.”

“Yeah, I know.” Scott lets Stiles guide him to another chair and plops down in it. “When did you get here anyway?”

“About the time Theo tossed Malia across the room after shredding her arm to ribbons.” Theo winces and Malia growls. Stiles ignores them both. “The girl’s body is gone. She was taken right under our noses.”

“How did they get past half of the Sheriff’s station?” Lydia asks.

Theo chuckles bitterly. “Because Parrish is the one taking them. You sent the body snatcher to stop the body snatcher. Good job.”

-

“You knew?” Stiles demands, taking a faltering step toward Theo. “How could you not share that useful information?!”

“You were next to me in the Jeep,” Theo reminds him with an exaggerated roll of his eyes. “How is it my fault that you weren’t paying attention to who flipped your Jeep?”

“Parrish owes me a new one,” Stiles mutters under his breath. “So, you ready to tell us what happened tonight? Clearly you didn’t stay put like we asked.”

“And be grateful he didn’t,” Liam says before Theo can get a word in. He ramps down on the growl that’s building in his chest and takes a measured breath. “Hayden and I weren’t looking so good.” Theo closes his eyes and swallows hard. The image of Liam bleeding black flashes behind closed eyelids and he snaps them back open. Soft fingers caress the back of his neck and he leans into the touch, letting it ground him. “I’m okay,” Liam soothes. “Stay with me. Stay present.”

“Yeah.” He clears his throat and drops his gaze, feeling uncomfortable with all eyes on him. “I knew that Scott wouldn’t be able to track Liam and Hayden. The tunnels run too deep and they become a maze. They eventually connect to the operating theatre where the Dread Doctors are hiding out, but you’d probably starve to death before you found them.”

“You could have called and told us the right location,” Scott tells him gently. 

“And let you walk into a trap? They expected you to come looking. Hell, they probably knew I would, too. I just got there first.” A bitter smile twists his lips. “I told them I was done with them. They took Liam because they could. I don’t know how long they knew I was double-crossing them, but they did. I told them I was done with them. Whatever information I’ve got, I’ll give to you and your pack.” 

“Like the vial you asked me to get from your truck?” Lydia questions. 

“Vial of what?” Theo does his best not to flinch from the accusation in Stiles’ voice. 

“The Dread Doctors have an alpha löwenmensch in their grasp. A werewolf and lion hybrid,” Theo explains when everyone’s head tilts. “It’s a long fucking story, but the guy was a literal Nazi and wanted his own supernatural army. He tried to take on Ghost Riders and they marked him with their whips. The Dread Doctors found him and put him in a tank to study him. That vial? It’s filled with fluid from the tank. It can cure any supernatural wound and it can bring back the dead. It’s what keeps those bastards up and running after all this time. They inject themselves every few months.”

“How do you know it can bring someone back to life?” Malia wonders. 

“Because they did it once. I was maybe ten or eleven at the time. They had an older experiment. She was supposed to be incredibly gifted, but she was a failure. They brought her back. Then, when she wouldn’t obey them, they killed her in front of me. It was a lesson about what they were capable of doing.” Theo explains, closing his eyes again. The fingers at the back of his neck slide slowly into his hair and he inhales slowly. 

“It will work on the dead chimeras. When we bring them back, it will stabilize them and they won’t be failures anymore. But first, we need to find them.” His eyes flick open and find Lydia. 

“Why me?” She arches a brow. 

“You’re a banshee. If anyone’s connected to the dead-“ He’s interrupted by a timid knock on the door. 

“Sorry,” Scott says as he starts to go for it. “It’s Kira-“

“Bring her in. I’ve got something to tell her.” If he’s telling the truth now, he might as well lay out all the cards. 

“What do you know about her?” Scott’s eyes go red and it takes all of his effort not to cow under the alpha stare. 

“Let her inside,” he manages between clenched teeth. Scott does as told, ushering Kira into the living room with the rest of them. 

“What’s going on-Liam!” She takes a step toward the couch and this time Theo doesn’t hold back. A deep growl emanates from his chest and Liam whines softly from behind him. Kira stops dead in her tracks, looking around the room in confusion. 

“It’s a thing,” Stiles says while vaguely gesturing with a hand. 

“The reason Kira is losing control? The Dread Doctors got to her the night I ‘came’ into town. It was storming on the road and we were all stuck in traffic. They'd wanted me there when Kira arrived to make sure their plan went off without a hitch.”

“What?” Kira’s eyes fly around the room, but everyone looks just as confused. “That…”

“Don’t play dumb. I know you finished the book and you’re probably having visions about what happened. They injected a needle into your eye and used it to pump lightning into you. It sent your inner kitsune on the fritz. The good news? I think we can reverse it and save you.” Theo barrels on without missing a beat. 

“How do you plan on that?” Scott asks, sitting down on the arm of a chair.

“Scotty,” Theo chuckles thinly, “I’m so glad you asked.”

-

Theo looks at Lydia. “The vial?”

Lydia digs it out of her pocket and hands it over. He holds it up to the light shine through the green liquid. “Josh Diaz.”

“The kid whose throat you ripped out?” Stiles asks.

“That’s the one.”

Scott takes a step forward. “What does he have to do with Kira?”

“If we bring Josh back, he can help her. With training, of course. Any of you know any raiju I don’t know about?” When everyone just stares at him, he shrugs. “Fine, we’ll wing it. But the point is, you saw what he did with the wires at the school and hospital. He literally consumes electricity. I’m sure kitsune energy would be an extra nubby snack.”

“You want to feed her to him?” Mason asks.

“Of course not. Just her excess energy.” Theo turns to Kira. “When the Dread Doctors forced the lightning into you, they disrupted the balance between you and your fox spirit. You are a seventeen year old kitsune with one tail, you are not close to being ready to wield that much power. To compensate, your fox took on the brunt of the power growing too powerful for you to fully control. If we take that power down a notch or two, it should become more manageable and you’ll be balanced again.”

“Why did they do that to me in the first place?”

“I don’t actually know. But I’d guess it was so you’d lose control and have enough power to disrupt the frequencies at Eichen so they could get to Valack.”

“Well, that’s fucked up and I hate it.” Stiles says to nobody in particular. “So, you’re planning to bring Josh and the rest back?”

“Not all of them. There’s only enough in here for four, I think.” Theo looks down at the vial cradled in his palm.

“Four? You want us to pick and choose who lives and who stays dead?” Lydia’s brows furrow as she scowls at Theo.

“I mean, I could do it for you if you want?”

Scott tilts his head. “Who would you choose? How would you choose?”

“Based on usefulness, Josh and Tracy. Lucas, maybe.” Corey sucks in a breath but Theo doesn’t look at him. “Donovan, I wouldn’t bother with. He’s too unstable without wendigo powers and death doesn’t exactly bring out the best in people. I don’t really know anything about the others so I don’t really have an opinion on them.” Theo shrugs. “I will say, though, that it wouldn’t hurt to keep some set aside just in case something happens with those two.” Theo points first at Hayden, then Corey. 

“You think we’ll be failures?” Hayden asks bitterly.

“Who knows?” Theo answers her. “Maybe you’ll end up stable like me. Or maybe one of you is the success.” He shrugs again and then yawns so hard his jaw pops.

“Okay.” Scott stands, wavering a little on his feet. “We’ll table this discussion for now, or at least until we know more about what’s happening with the remaining chimeras. We can’t do anything until we find the others’ bodies anyway, right? So let’s all get some rest and we can make the tough choices tomorrow if we have to.”

Everyone murmurs in agreement and Lydia and Mason offer Hayden and Corey rides home. Liam tugs at Theo’s shirt. “Take me home?”

“Yeah.”

This time when Liam offers Theo his guest room, Theo accepts. But only for one night. Only until his little wolf is whole again. And if Theo happens to stay up all night to keep check on him, then no one else needs to know.


	12. Chapter 12

“My asthma is back.” Scott tells him when they’re at the clinic one afternoon. Despite Deaton’s absence, Scott is still taking care of business. He’s mostly been making phone calls to check on patients and filling routine orders, but he seems to need the normalcy to grasp onto. “Just as bad as it used to be. I have to keep my inhaler on me at all times,” he says quietly. 

“Get rid of it. It’s got wolfsbane in it.” Theo says. Scott’s eyes widen and he hastily pulls it from his pocket, breaking it open. Sure enough, there’s a sprinkling of purple and black powder that makes him quiver. 

“That was poisoning me this whole time? Why didn’t I-“

“The black wolfsbane is a mix. It’s the same stuff they were pumping inside Liam when they had him and Hayden in their clutches. It’s usually a sedative, but it’s been weakening you over time. And no, I’m not the one who did it.” Theo says before Scott can get the wrong idea. “It’s practically odorless unless you know what to look for.”

“I don’t know if I should thank you or not,” Scott admits. He tosses the broken inhaler into the trash and goes to wash his hands. “How long until the effects wear off?”

“Two or three days for it all to leave your system. Drink lots of water and work out. When you feel like you can’t breathe, use pain to ground yourself back to reality. It’ll snap you out of it. Even just pinching yourself can help.” Theo lifts himself up onto the countertop and watches him. “You’ve been quiet all week. What else is bothering you?” He asks. 

“It’s been five days. We haven’t seen any new chimeras and we haven’t seen the Dread Doctors. We all go to school, pretending like nothing’s happened. But everyone seems to know. You just walk down the halls and no one’s smiling, no one’s laughing. I get the feeling that everyone can sense something’s coming.” Scott admits softly. “And we can’t protect them. I don’t know what to do.”

“The Dread Doctors won’t come after you. If anything, they will come for me. But the rest of you? They don’t care about. They took Liam to get to me,” Theo reminds in an equally quiet voice. He’s been restless for days, sleeping in his truck in the preserve, but nothing has happened. Scott’s right - it’s deeply unsettling. He’s used to being privy to their every move and knowing what to look for. But now? Now he’s just as in the dark as the rest of the pack. It’s terrifying and overwhelming most of the time. 

“We’re in over our heads. We should be asking Sheriff Stilinski for help,” Scott says, though he doesn’t sound like he means that. “But instead we’re lying to him. Lies of omission, I guess. Him and Parrish. He doesn’t remember taking the bodies and we think he’s only really dangerous if you try and get in his way.”

“Stiles and I weren’t in his way,” Theo is quick to counter. His jaw still aches from time to time from the hit. 

“Do you have a better guess?” Scott raises a brow and he shakes his head. “Right now, Lydia and Stiles are trying to find the bodies. The Nemeton. As soon as we find it, we can bring them back. I just wish it was easier to find. Last time we searched for it, we had to drown ourselves in ice water. But we’re not the only ones looking for chimeras anymore.”

“So are the police,” Theo says. He thinks about their presence at school within the last week and how they’ve been pulling in select members of the student body for questioning. 

“They’ve interviewed everyone that has two sets of DNA, a genetic chimera.” Scott continues. “But his officers don’t know what they’re looking for. Some of them think it’s a serial killer. Others think it’s worse than that. But the two we’ve still got eyes on, Hayden and Corey? They’re doing okay. Better than okay. They’re healing faster and getting stronger.” A note of sadness tinges his voice and Theo looks up to find Scott’s gaze out of focus. “They don’t need our help.”

“That’s not true.” Theo sighs and hops down from the counter. He leans against the operating table, braced by his forearms, and looks up at him. “Mason explained to Corey that you were just worried about Liam. Hell, he saw me try and rip out your spine for what happened to Liam. We were all having a shitty day.”

“Are we going to talk about that?” Scott raises his eyes cautiously and Theo shifts in discomfort. 

“Do we have to?”

“No. But you’re only lying to yourself at this point. We all see how much you care about him. And I think he sees it, too.” Scott murmurs. 

“Does it make a difference? The amount of people I’ve killed over the years…” Theo trails off and shakes his head a little. “I’m no good for him. Besides, I tried the whole ‘taking his pain’ thing and it didn’t work. Pretty sure I can’t experience emotions.”

“You weren’t experiencing anger when you tried to kill me?” Scott’s laugh is humorless, but his eyes stay soft. “Maybe if you’d admit to yourself that you cared about him, you’d be able to take his pain.” Theo averts his gaze at that and feels the tension rise in his shoulders. Deep down, he knows the other boy is probably right. “It’s okay if you can’t right now. But stop giving yourself excuses and convincing yourself that you don’t care. You’ve been keeping watch over him and Hayden ever since they got taken-“

“Just Liam,” Theo cuts in softly. “But he can’t seem to stop keeping guard over Hayden. He’s making it harder than it needs to be.” He’s spent all week back and forth from the preserve to Liam’s house - and Hayden’s - and it’s taking its toll on him. He can’t quite scrub the exhaustion off his face at this point. “Even if I do care, what then? It’s not like I can just tell him that. We’ve got more important things to focus on. Like what happens when the Dread Doctors find their success.”

“I disagree. Relationships help keep us human and anchor us. I lost the love of my life at Liam’s age because we just kept missing each other due to things that were more important. I miss Allison, but I also miss the moments that we never got to spend together. Take my word for it? Don’t let that be you.”

“Noted,” Theo murmurs. He straightens himself back up and clears his throat, glancing around the empty clinic. Scott, to his credit, seems to sense that the discussion is closed. 

“I know you came back for a pack. I’m sorry things have been a mess lately. I haven’t exactly been alpha of the year.” 

“Stop trying to apologize,” Theo says as he steps back from the table. He meets Scott’s gaze and holds it steady. “I’m with you, all of you. For better or worse.”

“Trust me, there’s going to be worse.” Scott exhales quietly. 

“I’m counting on it.” As the alpha’s eyes widen, Theo rolls his own. “Perigee-syzygy. Do you know what that means?”

“Not really. Latin wasn’t exactly my strong suit.” Scott admits, scratching the back of his neck. 

“Supermoon,” Theo explains. “Whatever they’re waiting for, they think the supermoon will bring it.”

“Shouldn’t you know what they’re looking for?”

“A host for the ultimate werewolf. Last time I talked to them, all they said was they would know at the supermoon. They were going to make sure to terminate their failures by then.”

“Which puts a ticking clock on Corey and Hayden?”

“I’m keeping an eye on Hayden. You and Mason should watch Corey.” Theo says. “The Dread Doctors always said the failures compromised the experiment pool. I didn’t understand what that meant, but it can’t be good news for Hayden and Corey.” 

“Thanks for telling me.” Scott offers a half-smile and Theo returns it as best as he can. 

“I should be going. Liam’s got lacrosse practice and…” Theo trails off, knowing Scott understands. 

“I’ll finish closing this place up. Thanks for stopping by. I’m glad we could talk.” Scott’s smile is a little more genuine and something in Theo’s chest unclenches. Good to know that his attack on the other boy hasn’t completely ruined his chances of becoming pack. Maybe one day he can be accepted into their fold. 

By the time he reaches the school, Liam’s packing up on the lacrosse field. They share a smile across it and Liam goes to the locker room to shower, leaving Theo alone on the bleachers. He wraps his fingers around the railing and takes a deep breath, closing his eyes. He can do this. He’s spent his entire life focused on his survival. Liam’s in range and he knows to roar if the Dread Doctors show up. He just has to keep telling himself that things will be fine. 

-

"Hey, check this out." Liam tells Hayden, handing her his phone so she can see the mini comic he'd just seen and chuckled at.

She reads the captions out loud. "A full moon. This would be a great night for a werewolf to come out. I'm gay." She laughs and hands Liam his phone back. "Speaking of werewolves coming out…"

"Everyone who matters knows I'm bi."

"Does Theo?" She raises her eyebrow at him.

"I don't think so?" Liam knows he hasn't said anything about it to the chimera, but he also knows he's shit at hiding his chemosignals, so Theo probably knows that Liam finds him attractive. "Why should he know, anyway?"

"Really, Liam?"

He hikes his shoulders up to his ears at her strident tone. "What?"

"Don't 'what' me." She stops to face him, arms akimbo. "You know why he should know."

Liam sighs. "I know why  _ you think _ he should know. I don't think you're right."

"Well, I do. You should tell him and then tell him how you feel. You saw him at Scott's house, Liam. He cares about you."

"That doesn't mean he feels the same as I do," he mumbles.

Hayden sighs. "Boys are so dumb."

"Hey!"

Before he can defend himself more, Hayden swears and brings her fingers to her nose. She pulls them away and Liam sees they're covered in silver. More drips from her right nostril.

Liam can’t move. All he can remember is Zach’s screams as he was dragged out of their cell. He hadn’t come back. Theo had told them about the dead boy on the operating table when he’d confronted the Dread Doctors. He can’t stand the thought of that being Hayden.

She looks up at him, scared. "Don't tell anyone. You can't tell anyone."

"We should. We should tell Scott and Theo."

"Liam…"

"I know you resent me always checking up on you, but I just want to keep you safe. We failed you last time.  _ I  _ failed you last time. We're going to do better this time, but we have to be honest if we're going to do that."

Hayden sighs and digs a tissue out of her backpack. "Okay, fine. You're right. I just wish it wasn't happening at all."

The bell rings and she takes the tissue away from her nose. It looks like the mercury bleeding has stopped. For now. "C'mon, I'll take you to class and them I'll tell Scott."

"Okay," she sighs, allowing him to lead her back to the school.

-

Liam leaves Hayden to attend her free period in her biology class, seeing her off at the door. Before his teacher catches him for skipping a tutoring session, he slips into the locker room and finds Scott sitting on one of the benches. “Hayden’s bleeding silver,” is the first thing he blurts out. 

“What? Are you sure?” He asks, rising to his feet. 

“Positive. She’s in class right now,” he adds before Scott can ask, “and she’s doing okay. But I’m worried it won’t be long.” He confesses in a small voice. Hayden’s gradually shifted from a nuisance to a friend and he can’t lose her. He can’t lose someone else in his life. He knows Theo has promised that he can bring her back if anything should happen, but he can’t help but wonder if it will really work. 

“I’ll tell Theo, my next class is with him.” Scott promises. “Are you heading to tutoring right now?” He asks. 

“I think I’m going to skip and check on Corey. He and Mason have a free period right now.” He answers, rubbing the back of his neck. “Aren’t you running late for your class?”

“It’ll be fine. I wanted to check up on you anyways before I went to class.” Scott’s expression shifts into something gentler and Liam’s IED itches under his skin. The last thing he needs right now is to be pitied by his alpha. 

“I’m fine,” he says. “You don’t need to worry so much about me. I’m not some fragile kid, Scott.”

“I know you aren’t. It’s just a full moon tomorrow. They’re always a little stronger leading up to a supermoon.” He explains and Liam has to bite his tongue. It’s not his first supermoon. He’s got a handful under his belt. 

“I know.” Liam swallows back his anger. 

“You’re probably already starting to feel it. The supermoon is closer to the earth-“

“I know what it means!” He snaps out. His golden eyes reflect in Scott’s and he sucks in a breath. “I know,” he repeats in a softer voice. 

“Okay,” Scott raises both hands and shuffles back a half step. “I’m just here to help if you need it.”

“Like you did when you chained me to a tree at the beginning of the year?” Liam growls, slamming the door of a locker shut. 

“All I meant was it might be a good idea if we stick together,” Scott says. He blinks rapidly and Liam shakes his head, exhaling sharply. “So we can protect each other.”

“Like you protected Hayden last week?” He raises a brow and Scott falls silent. “Face it, Scott. We can’t protect anyone.”

“Liam…”

“I’m going to find my friends and hit up the weight gym. Tell Theo that I’ll see him after school.” Shaking his head, he strides quickly out of the locker room and takes a few deep breaths. He needs to find Mason and fast. If anyone can anchor him, it’s his best friend. 

-

Liam slips into the gym to see Corey lifting way more than a boy his size should be able to lift at the bench press. After he sets the bar in the cradles, he sits up and looks at Mason. "Wow."

"Yeah," Mason breathes out and Liam wrinkles his nose at the thread of desire coming from him. 

"Okay, so when  _ I  _ lift above average amounts of weight you accuse me of taking steroids but when Corey does it, you just stare at him all heart eyes and shit?" Liam crosses the room toward then. "My feelings are hurt, Mason. You have hurt my feelings. I hope you're happy."

Corey blushes and Mason clears his throat. "In my defense, my best friend didn't bother to tell me he'd been  _ bitten by a werewolf.  _ Steroids were the most logical option at the time," he says primly.

Liam snickers, then turns to Corey. "You're definitely getting stronger, man."

"Does this mean I'm their success?"

"I don't know." Liam answers. "But Scott or Theo might."

Corey grimaces at the idea and Mason lays a hand on his shoulder. "I know the last time you saw them wasn't the best day for either of them." He glances over at Liam, who had been the catalyst for both of their outbursts if for two wildly different reasons. "But they're trying to help. More than most people would."

Corey doesn't say anything but Liam thinks he and Mason can bring him around to the idea. He doesn't know hardly anything about the other boy except that he has a skin graft on his leg from a dog attack when he was eleven and that one of the dead chimeras was his boyfriend, and he'd pumped him with enough venom to come from a ten foot scorpion. Liam wonders if his own violent tendencies, voluntary or not, prepared him better for the mayhem of being in this world, or if Corey's reluctance stems from more than just his abrupt and painful introduction to the supernatural. 

Instead of answering them, Corey gives the weight rack a considering look. 

"Seriously?" Mason asks. 

Corey smiles and shrugs. "Why not?"

Liam rolls his eyes and helps them load the bar with another hundred pounds. He knows  _ he  _ could easily lift this much, but he's curious to see if Corey can manage it. 

The chimera lifts it with little difficulty, but he does make a comment about how he's really starting to feel the weight. Liam suggests they start adding the weight in twenty pound increments. 

They spend the next twenty minutes adding weight to the bar. Corey is lifting the latest round when he coughs and his arms go out. The weight crushes his chest and Mason rushes over to him just as black and mercury silver blood bursts from his mouth and nose, covering them both. Liam rushes behind the bench and grabs the bar, lugging it off of him. 

"We'll take him to Melissa," Liam grits his teeth, lifting a coughing Corey into a sitting position. 

"I- I already called 911," Mason gasps. Before Liam can tell him to hang up, the dispatcher answers the call. Mason explains to him that his friend is injured from lifting weights at the school gym. The man tells him that an ambulance is on it's way. When Mason hangs up he looks worriedly at Liam and Corey. "I'm sorry, I didn't know what else to do."

"It's fine, he’ll get to Melissa." Liam gently pushes Corey toward Mason. "Stay with him, I've got to go find Hayden."

Liam rushes out of the room to find his other friend.

-

Theo looks up as Scott slips into their classroom just before the bell rings. He doesn’t move for a moment, waiting for the true alpha to take a seat behind him before he turns around. “Corey’s getting stronger,” he tells him. At the front of the room, their teacher asks for them to pair up.  _ Perfect.  _ Now he’s got an excuse not to do his work. 

“How do you know?” Scott looks up from his notebook that he’s in the middle of opening and his nose scrunches a little. 

“Watched him snap his lock off his locker before class started.” Theo says, frowning a little. “Why do you smell sad?”

“It’s nothing.” Scott says. He backtracks as Theo raises a brow, wilting under his look. “I was trying to check on Liam and he was upset. I’m sure it’s his IED and the full moon getting to him.” 

“What happened?” Theo asks. 

“Stiles and I, uh, chained him to a tree during a full moon at the beginning of the year. I don’t think he’s quite forgiven us for it.” Theo has to take a deep breath and count backwards from five. 

“Seriously?” He gives Scott his best unimpressed look. “No wonder he’s pissed at you. Doesn’t he have an anchor?”

“We haven’t found anything that works.” Scott’s expression is unreadable and Theo feels like he’s being picked apart. 

“What?” He asks. Scott shakes his head a little. “Scott…”

“I think you’re becoming his anchor.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because I’ve seen the way you two look at each other. And he definitely anchors you.” Theo’s mind flashes back to the night when he’d tried to kill Scott. 

“Shut up,” he murmurs as heat rises to his cheek. “Can we change the subject?”

“Well, I do have some bad news.” Scott’s expression shifts and Theo cocks a brow. “Hayden’s started bleeding silver. Liam said it just happened before class started.”

“And you didn’t lead with that?” Theo’s thoughts shift to the green vial secured in his backpack. 

“It’s not like we could shove Hayden into an empty classroom and inject her. Someone would have seen something.” Scott’s argument is weak and it’s clear to Theo that he’s not thinking straight. Did his fight with Liam really screw with his head? He files that under information he knows about betas and their alphas and cocks his head. 

“If she’s just started, then there’s still time. Usually the bleeding is small and gets worse as time goes on. She’ll be fine until the end of the da-“

“Wait, do you hear that?” Scott’s head tilts toward the door. Frowning, Theo strains his senses beyond the school.  _ Sirens. _

“Is that the police?” He asks. Scott snaps his head around, a worried look drawn on his face. 

“It’s an ambulance.” Within seconds, the sounds are in close enough range that their human classmates are starting to look up. Ignoring their teacher, they press themselves up against the window and try to figure out what’s happening.  _ Hayden. Corey. _

“Scott, come on.” Theo’s already grabbed his bag and Scott scrambles after him. They take the stairs two at a time, weaving through the students who are shuffling into the hall to see what’s going on. As they reach the parking lot, Corey’s rasping breath reaches them both. Mason steps into their path, soaked in mercury and black blood.

“He-He just started bleeding everything, I don’t…” He shoots a panicked look at the ambulance and Corey chokes on his blood as he’s lifted up.

“Don’t let them do it,” he pleads in a broken voice, “don’t let them kill me!” 

“Scott, we have to follow them. Mason, I need you to listen to me.” Theo shifts around, gripping him by his shoulders. “I need you to find Liam and Hayden and stay with them. If the Dread Doctors come, I want you to take Liam and run.”

“What about Hayden?” Scott snaps his attention to the conversation and Theo shakes his head.

“I’ve got the serum and I can bring her back. I’ve got enough for four, Scott. Hayden, Corey, Josh, and Tracy. If they get their hands on Liam, I won’t be able to bring him back. So unless you’re willing to risk his life a second time, then you’ll listen. The Dread Doctors will come for Hayden and Corey, it’s just a matter of which one they want first. They’ll most likely kill Corey since he’s furthest along, but I’m not taking chances. Get somewhere safe.” Theo tells Mason, holding his gaze. Thankfully, he doesn’t protest. 

“I-I’ll go find him now.” He promises before disappearing into the crowd of students.

Swallowing down his fears, Theo turns back to Scott and jerks his head toward the parking lot. Together they race to his truck, hurrying after the ambulance that’s leaving the school. Time is running out.


	13. Chapter 13

Liam rushes down the hall of curious students all trying to see what is going on with the ambulance. He finds Hayden right as she reaches the bottom of the stairs. 

As soon as he stops in front of her she asks, "It's Corey, isn't it?"

"Yeah. They're taking him to the hospital."

"That means I'm next." She clutches her books to her chest. "They're coming for me."

"They're coming for  _ all _ of us." Liam grabs her hand and starts tugging her toward the door. "Which is why we have to get out of here."

They make out the doors and halfway to Hayden's car when they hear Mason's voice. "Liam! Hayden! Wait!" They wait for him to catch up. “Where are you guys going?”

“Anywhere but here,” Hayden answers him.

“Do you mean the high school, or..?” Mason’s gaze bounces between them.

“For now, yeah, but after that?” Liam shrugs.

Mason nods. “Okay. I’m coming with you.”

“Mason…” Hayden starts.

“No. Theo sent me to make sure you guys were okay and that’s what I’m going to do. Wherever you’re going, I’m going.”

“Alright, fine. But let’s go. Like, now.” Liam turns back toward the parking lot where Hayden’s car is parked.

They all climb into the car and peel out of the parking lot. Tension takes up permanent residence in Liam’s shoulders as they get further away from the school. He’s not actually sure getting away will help, but he’s gotta try something. Staying in one place fucked them over last time, they’re not going to make the same mistake twice. 

He wishes Theo were with them too. Not just for his own peace of mind, but because Theo probably would know exactly what to do right that second while Liam is trying his best not to smash his fists through the dashboard.  _ Fuck.  _ Why did it have to be a full moon? His wolf is restless and hates the cornered feeling surrounding them. It’s ready to sink fangs and claws into the first thing that gets in their way.

Liam takes a deep breath.  _ The Sun. The Moon. The Truth. The Sun.  _ Liam thinks of eyes that can’t decide if they’re green or blue or grey.  _ The Moon.  _ Claws, stained red with his alpha’s blood, sharp fangs bared, and golden yellow eyes slightly dimmer than his own.  _ The Truth.  _ Theo, Theo, Theo.

Liam closes his eyes and his shoulders relax minutely at the truth ringing through him. When he’s calm enough to speak without growling he asks Mason, “What all did Theo tell you?”

“He said to find you and Hayden, and then to find somewhere safe to go.”

“Is that it?”

“Yeah,” Mason lies. Liam can hear the trip in his heart. He looks back at his best friend, but Mason just shakes his head. Liam doesn’t want to know what else Theo said.

Liam nods at him and sighs. “Okay, so what’s our next step?”

“Figure out the safe place to go to?” Mason suggests.

“Do you think out of town would be good enough? Would they follow me if I just left?”

“Okay, so maybe head to Beacon Heights?” Liam throws out. “And if they show, we keep going.” 

“One problem.” Hayden taps her fingers on her steering wheel. “Gas. If we’re going on an impromptu road trip, we’ll need money for gas. And food.”

Liam grimaces. “I’ve literally already given you all I had saved up from my summer savings.”

“I live twenty minutes in the other direction,” Mason says contritely.

“Shit.” Hayden sighs as they near an exit out of town. “Wait! We’ll stop by Sinema. I know the combo to the safe. I’ll take what Phil owes me and that should cover expenses for a while. Assuming they don’t follow us forever.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Liam nods.

“I’ll text Theo the plan.” Mason drums on the back of Liam’s head rest. “Let’s get some cash and then get the hell out of here.” 

-

“Are we going to talk about it?” Scott asks quietly when they’re sitting at a red light. 

“Scott,” Theo warns in a low growl. “There’s nothing to talk about-“

“You have feelings for Liam. And I appreciate that you want to protect him, but you can’t keep doing this. You can’t ask people to choose him every time-“

“That’s not what I’m doing. I’m trying to keep him out of this. Him, Mason, the other humans at the school? They don’t need to be put in the middle of this war. It goes beyond my feelings for your beta. Yes, I want him safe. Yes, it scares the hell out of me. But dammit, Scott, look at the bigger picture! They’ve already had their hands on Liam once. They could decide to make him a generic chimera like they did with me and countless others. Do you want him to go through that? Hayden and Corey, we know their fates. They’ll die and Parrish will get their bodies and we will resurrect them. I’m trying to stop Liam from being dragged further into this and having to become like me. Because once you die, you lose a part of yourself. So stop with the self-righteous act and get your head out of your ass. I’m protecting him because he’s on their list and shouldn’t be. And that’s my fault. I’m taking responsibility for it and doing what I can to keep him safe. So if you don’t agree with that, then I’m going to have to ask you to walk away from this fight.” He knows that Scott won’t back down from the Dread Doctors, but maybe this will get him thinking. 

Theo can’t save them all. He can’t risk a trip to the operating theatre when the truth is out there. The Dread Doctors have always used their threatening demeanor to keep him in line. Now that he’s broken off from them? All bets are off. He’s going to save the other chimeras as promised, help Kira, and do whatever it takes to keep Liam alive. Not just because of his goddamn feelings, but because he needs to start taking responsibility for his actions. He sure as hell owes it to the person whose heart had taken residence in his chest. 

“You can’t keep giving me ultimatums,” Scott murmurs faintly. “You’re putting me in impossible positions with my pack-“

“Scott. I know you’re a true alpha and all, but that’s not going to cut it with these assholes. They don’t give a damn about your morals or the high ground that you’re so desperate to take. They’re going to keep kidnapping and killing teenagers until they get their success.” He slaps at his turn signal with more force than necessary, pulling in where the ambulances dock. Nurses and doctors are scrambling from the building and his heart plummets. “We’re too late.”

He throws his truck into park against the curb, launching himself through the door. Scott’s a half step behind him as they enter the emergency room to chaos. Nurses and doctors are running around, barking orders at one another, and there are patients scattered across the ground moaning in pain. Theo sniffs at the air, searching for the telltale smell of toxic wolfsbane and mercury, but it’s completely hidden from him. “Goddamn chameleon,” he snarls under his breath. 

“They’re already here,” Scott says as he jerks himself to a halt. 

“This wasn’t them,” Theo corrects with a small shake of his head. 

“It was Corey?” Scott turns, eyes widening. “Why do they do this? What makes them turn violent?”

“Their bodies are rejecting the experiment. They’re losing their minds and what makes them who they are. When that’s gone, all that’s left is a beast in their place. They don’t have memories anymore or a moral compass. Everything around them is a threat and-“ The lights above them both flicker. 

_ “Now _ they’re here.” Scott voices barely above a whisper. The elevator door bangs open in front of them and continues slamming open and shut. Chills crawl down Theo’s spine. 

“We need to find Corey,” he murmurs with false bravado. “He’s a chameleon, Scott. He can hide himself and blend into any background. Scenting him isn’t going to work.”

“Do you have any better ideas?” Scott turns to him and he nods his head. 

“I do.” Theo turns and walks right to the front desk where a security guard is sitting. He didn’t wait for his attention, hopping over the desk and punching him square in the face. As the guard slumped in his chair, Theo knelt down in front of the computer and scanned the cameras. 

“Theo-“

“Basement.” Theo says as the camera flickers. He sees the brief outline of the Dread Doctors before it turns to static. “Isn’t that where the other ambulances are?”

“Stairs will get us there, come on.” Scott’s already moving and Theo follows, swallowing down his anxiety and pushing every fear deep below the surface. The lights go out on the stairwell and the emergency reds come on, casting an eerie glow as they make their descent to the basement. 

It’s easy to find Corey. He’s slumped down beside an ambulance, vacant eyes staring out across the room. A hole has been punctured through his chest. “Oh god…” Scott whispers, hand going up over his mouth. “We were supposed to protect him…”

“We need to go find Hayden,” Theo says as his heart starts to race.  _ Liam. Liam’s in danger.  _ “Scott, we’ve gotta go.”

“The body-“

“Parrish will take care of it. But we have to go or else we lose Hayden, too. We’ll try the school and see if they stuck around.” Theo fishes his keys from his pocket. Fuck, he really needs to get a working phone again. 

-

“I’ll stay in the car,” Mason says once they’ve reached the club. “Theo isn’t answering.”

“Oh, yeah, his phone broke when Parrish flipped Stiles’s Jeep. Try Scott instead,” Liam tells him and opens the door to follow Hayden inside. “We’ll be right.”

They hurry inside and make their way behind the bar. Hayden crouches beside the save and Liam asks, “ You know the combination?

“12-34-56.”

Liam scowls, crouching behind her. “But, that's…”

“Yeah.” Hayden turns to him and smirks. “Phil's an idiot.”

She reaches into the opened safe and pulls out an envelope with her name on it. She opens it to reveal two crisp one hundred dollar bills. They sigh in relief and tucks the envelope into her jacket pocket, then closes the safe door. “My sister's going to go out of her mind worrying about me.” 

Liam grabs her hand. “We'll come up with something to tell her.”

Hayden stands and Liam follows suit. “How far are we gonna go?”

“Whatever's far enough, I guess.” He shrugs.

“What if I turn out like Tracy? What if I hurt you?”

Liam grins goofily at her. “I'll get over it. I heal when I haven’t been shot up with wolfsbane for a few hours."

A helpless bubble of laughter escapes the girl and she leans her head against Liam’s shoulder. He wraps his arms around her shoulders. “We’ll get you through this, okay?”

He feels her nod against his shoulder.

Suddenly, one of the projectors turns on and the strobe lights start to flicker and spin. Another projector starts playing another silent black and white classic without anyone turning it on.

“Oh, God.” Hayden clutches his hand. “They're here.”

“Over there,” Liam drags Hayden behind one of the large projectors. 

They manage to get out of sight just as the Dread Doctor appears in the doorway. Liam holds his breath as he marches straight for the bar, the jangle of his boots as unsettling as the clicks and whirs Liam has come to associate with his torturers. Liam and Hayden flinch as the bottles of booze that were sitting on the bar are swept onto the floor. The shadow on the projection screen shows them that the Dread Doctor coming for them is the leader with the cane, it’s grip shaped like a hammer ready to smash their heads in. The Doctor looms around the bar and Liam grabs Hayden’s hand. They sprint toward the emergency exit on the other end of the club. They only make it half way when they come face to mask with the tallest Doctor. He backhands Liam so hard, the werewolf flies to the side, mouth bloody and head ringing.

Liam does his best to ignore the pain and fear. He focuses on his anger instead. These motherfuckers had hurt him and Hayden. They’d killed all of those kids and stolen Theo. Liam growls, jerking to his feet to attack the Doctor that had come up behind Hayden. The Doctor intercepts him and throws him into the beaded projectection wall. He grunts as he pushes himself up on all fours. “Run, Hayden! Run!”

The Doctors turn toward the girl, and Hayden backs away. Before she can run or they can grab her, a roar catches everyone’s attention. 

Scott. 

-

After receiving a text from Mason, Scott corrects their travel to Sinema. Theo presses on the gas hard and mentally curses the younger members of the pack for their stupidity. Trying to leave town is only going to get the Dread Doctors on their trail. They’re not going to let an experiment get across the border. Even if it means cutting down everyone in the way. 

“Tell Mason to call us if they show up,” Theo says as he jerks the wheel around in a tight turn. They’re maybe five minutes out and he’s flying down the road. “We never should have split up. We should have grabbed Hayden and dragged her with us to find Corey.” He seethes through his teeth. His fangs itch against his gums and his claws are right under his nails. He’s not ready to face them in a fight like this. They’ll lose. Despite the power of a true alpha at their disposal, Theo knows they don’t stand a chance. Belasko alone had almost taken out Scott. Going up against the Dread Doctors is insanity. 

“We’ll get to her before they do.” Scott says, though he doesn’t sound like he fully believes himself. “I’ll take the back entrance if you’ll take the front.” The building is quickly coming into view. He nods and throws the truck into park as soon as they’re in the lot, jumping out. He can taste the static in the air. 

“They’re here.” He says without looking back at Scott. He sprints for the entrance, snapping at Mason to stay put as the human starts to exit his car. There’s glass and alcohol littering the floor, drawing his line of sight instantly. Scott’s roar from the back room makes the hair on his neck stand up and his eyes glow. Racing into the room, he finds Scott coming down at one of the Dreads and scraping his claws against his mask. He ushers Hayden back behind him, snarling as he shifts in front of the Dread Doctors. 

They’re here. They’re going to do what he’s expected for years and finally put an end to him. But he’s not going down without a goddamn fight. They’ve hurt Liam once. Now they’re going to pay the price for it. He snarls around his fangs, a protective surge rising through him. 

“Theo?” Liam asks from his right. He doesn’t spare him a glance, but he scents the air.  _ Blood.  _ Not a lethal injury, but an injury nonetheless. Still, he sees from the corner of his eye as the beta throws himself into the path of one of their adversaries. His eyes burn gold as he throws punch after punch to a metal plated chest, but the other doesn’t budge. Fingers wrap around the collar of his shirt and he gets tossed to the ground like a rag doll. 

Rage bubbles inside of Theo and he snarls, turning toward the third Dread Doctor. They aren’t pulling their punches. The surgeon is throwing fists at Scott with everything he’s got. “You’re not making it out of here alive,” he snarls as his claws extend. The pathologist cocks their head and he shifts down into a crouch. It’s easy to barrel into their midsection and throw them off balance. But he can’t keep the advantage. Electricity crackles through the glove that’s pressed down against his spine and he lets out a wounded yelp. His legs give out and he crumbles, gasping as he tries to roll himself onto his back. A boot narrowly misses flattening his face in. 

Springing back onto his feet, he ducks as a heavy handed blow is aimed for his face. He dances back out of reach, glancing around to briefly assess the situation. There’s the acrid scent of fear and anger blurring together, making his nostrils burn and his heart race, but Scott and Theo are both on their backs. He slips away from the pathologist again and helps up Liam, growling lowly. 

“Get the fuck out of here, Liam. Get Hayden and run!” He orders. Liam gets onto his feet and calls for Hayden, stumbling blindly around the room. As Theo turns back to the fight at hand, he finds the surgeon in his path. 

“I’ll kill you for this, all of you.” He promises with a snarl, swiping with his claws. In the other room, he hears Liam scream. He turns toward it automatically and a gloved hand wraps around his throat, pinning him against a bar. 

“You have until the perigee-syzygy.” The surgeon warns as he fights for air. “Then you and your friends will be terminated.”

“Touch Liam again and see what happens,” Theo challenges in a hiss. He swipes his claws uselessly at the other figure, but he can’t do a damn thing. The hand around his throat relaxes and then he’s tossed across the room like a rag doll. Struggling to get back onto his knees, he shakes his head to clear the ringing and looks around. 

“Where’s Hayden?” Scott asks, getting to his feet from a few yards away. Theo shakes his head dumbly and tries to remember how to breathe. 

They’re alone.  _ Liam, _ he thinks as he gets back up. Scott is there to steady him and together they stumble toward the back room. Liam is fine, he’s still in one piece, but panicked eyes find Theo. 

“I’m okay. I think I’m going to be okay.” She says. Theo doesn’t have the heart to say that she’s wrong. 


	14. Chapter 14

_ “Get the fuck out of here, Liam. Get Hayden and run!” _

Liam grits his teeth at Theo’s words and hauls himself to his feet. “Hayden!” He can’t see her anywhere and he starts to stumble around the main floor where Theo and Scott are fighting the Dread Doctors. “Hayden! Hayden!”

He picks up speed, following the thread of Hayden’s fear he can detect, bursting through the beaded curtain to find her in the arms of the third Dread Doctor. He can do nothing but watch as she plunges a needle into Hayden’s neck. Hayden’s body tenses and her eyes fill with mercury.

“NOOO!” 

The Doctor pulls out the spent needle and releases Hayden who falls to her knees. Liam doesn’t bother following her as she turns to walk away. He runs to Hayden, he eyes reverting back to their pretty, solemn brown. She gasps and clutches onto Liam’s shirt as the werewolf cradles her face in his hands and inspects her eyes, face, and neck.

“Help me stand,” Hayden insists.

He helps her up and guides her to the wall so she can lean against it. Just as Theo and Scott make it to them, she says to Liam, “I’m okay. I think I’m going to be okay.” 

She smiles at him, but Liam doesn’t think she’s okay at all. He turns to the others. “I saw the needle go in. And her eyes filled up with- with mercury. They turned completely silver.”

“She looks okay, she might still heal.” Scott, ever the optimist.

“Or she won’t.” Theo, ever the realist.

Liam cannot deal with either of them. Not while one of his friends could be in danger of actually dying. “What if something is happening to her on the inside?”

Scott sucks in a deep breath. “Okay. Let’s get her to the vet clinic.”

Mason meets them outside the door. “I heard the roaring. What-” He catches sight of Hayden. “Is she okay?”

“Don’t think so.” Liam answers him. “The Dread Doctors injected her with a shit ton of mercury. We’re taking her to the clinic.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Can you follow us in Hayden’s car?”

“Yeah, no problem.” Mason frowns down at Hayden. “Actually, there’s something I want to look up, something I remember reading from the library. Can I meet you guys there?”

“Yeah,” Liam and the others agree. “See you when you get there.”

They go their separate ways. Liam has to help Hayden up into Theo’s truck and as soon as he’s inside, she leans against him. Theo speeds across Industrial Bridge toward the other side of town.

“I’m texting the others to meet us at the clinic,” Scott tells them, typing furiously.

Hayden sinks further against Liam and Theo says, “Keep her awake. She shouldn’t fall asleep, Liam.”

Liam turns his full attention to Hayden. “Hey! Hayden, hey. You gotta stay awake.”

“’m so tired,” she mumbles.

“I know. But you can’t go to sleep.” He turns his head to look at Theo in the rearview mirror. “How do we help her?”

"I'm honestly not sure, Liam. I don't have any practice saving the experiments after the Docs were done with them." Liam growls at Theo's answer. "Like it or not, it's true. Look, it's not like wolfsbane poisoning that can be burned out. I don't really know what to do with that much mercury."

"What about the serum?" Liam asks desperately.

"It might cancel out the poisoning and stabilize her, but her mind will continue to be eaten alive. She'd probably end up like Tracy. Or worse."

“Can’t she heal?”

“She’s not a real werewolf, Liam. Think of chimeras as the cheap knockoff brand. We’re not as strong as you and we don’t always heal like you do.”

“What if we turn her into a real werewolf? Scott? Give her the bite to save her like you did for me?” Liam asks, eyes pleading his alpha.

Scott turns and looks at Hayden for a long moment. “I- Liam, at this point, the bite  _ might _ save her, but it could just as easily kill her faster. Her body has already been through so much. I don't know she’d be able to survive the transformation.” He looks up at Liam. “I’m going to be completely honest, Liam. I don’t want her death on my conscience like that. Do you?”

The angry, irrational, childish part of himself wants to scream,  _ Yes! Take the risk! Damn the consequences! _ But as he looks up into the rear view mirror and his eyes lock with Theo’s, he’s able to think more clearly. “I understand. Fuck!” He clutches the shaking girl to his chest. “Is there anything we can do?”

“I also texted my mom,” Scott says. “She’ll do what she knows how to do, okay?”

Liam nods, trusting his alpha, even as the nearly full moon pulls at him to fight back. He pulls in a full, deep breath and focuses on being surrounded by Theo’s scent.

They make it to the clinic just as Stiles pulls up, the Jeep rattling and wheezing. “Hey, sorry! I had trouble starting the Jeep again. Thing’s barely hanging on.”

“Getting flipped by Parrish really didn’t help it any,” Theo points out.

Stiles rolls his eyes. “Lydia is at the sheriff’s station, she said she’ll get here as soon as possible. Apparently, Parrish has locked himself in a cell for our safety.”

“Okay.” Scott nods. “Malia’s on her way. I had to convince her to come, she’s…”

“Uh, guys?” Liam grunts, holding Hayden up. “Can we continue this inside?”

“Yeah,” Scott digs his keys out of his pocket “Let’s go.”

They get Hayden inside and Liam holds onto her as her shaking worsens. She pants, gripping her belly and Liam can only guess what she’s feeling. “She’s getting worse.”

“Mercury poisoning,” Theo grits his teeth.

“I’ll call my mom.” Scott turns to pull out his phone.

Stiles shuffles to the back room to grab a blanket and wrap it around the shivering girl. Liam holds onto her and tries to comfort her as best he can. Scott comes back into the room, grimacing.

“Several deputies just got admitted into the ER, injured from some kind of animal. Apparently, it was strong enough to toss the high school sign through the school roof.”

“What the fuck?” Stiles huffs out. 

Theo just swears violently.

“Mom says she’ll get here as soon as she can, but it could be a few hours. She said to just keep Hayden as comfortable as we can until she can get here.” Liam nods and clutches her closer to his chest. Scott turns to Theo. “Do you know that that thing is?”

“The success. Whoever it is, the Dread Doctors did what they came here to achieve. Fuck!” Theo drags his fingers through his hair, sending his carefully shaped spikes in all different directions. Liam hates himself a little for noticing when so many other important things are going on. “That’s what they meant when they said that it’s too late. This little sprint against the deputies was a test run, They’re going to unleash it on the super moon.”

“What  _ is  _ it?” Stiles asks.

“The Beast.  _ La bete.  _ That’s all the Surgeon would call it.” Theo sighs. “It’s supposedly the ultimate killing machine. No remorse, no fear of consequences.”

“Why?” Was all Liam could ask. “Why would they want to create that?”

“I honestly have no idea.” Theo shakes his head. “But they’ve been trying to do it for decades.”

Liam swears. “Mason was going to the library. Do you think he was there when that happened at the school?” Liam digs his phone out of his pocket to text his best friend but Hayden groans his name and he sets it down to wrap his arms around her. “Hey, we’re here, Hayden. We’re going to help however we can, okay? You’re not alone.”

He forgets all about his phone when Lydia shows up. She tells them about her and Parrish finding the Nemeton and the deputy freaking out about his dreams becoming a reality. “I’ll probably go back to the station to keep an eye on him and try to convince him that he doesn’t need to lock himself up.”

“Lock himself up?” Theo asks.

“Yeah, he’s locked himself in a cell to ‘protect us from himself’. He’s afraid of doing something worse than flipping a Jeep next time.”

“That was bad enough,” Stiles mumbles.

They all look up when Malia walks through the door. She takes one look at Hayden and gives a very lupine whine. “I don’t think I can be here.”

“Malia…” Scott takes a couple of steps toward her.

She shakes her head and backs away.

“Shift.” Theo’s voice makes her freeze.

“What?”

“Shift into your coyote.” He shrugs. “It’s what I would do when it all became too much. The wolf doesn’t process emotions the same as the man. Use your coyote to buffer it all for a few hours. Besides, you could help her stay warm.” He gestures toward Hayden.

“That’s great. But I don’t know how to shift back into a coyote.” Malia gestures widley, a move she had to have picked up from Stiles. “And since when can you full shift?”

“Since I was twelve. It’s my special power. Lucky me.” Theo pushes himself off of the wall he’d been leaning against. “And now lucky you. Let’s go. I’ll walk you through it in the other room so you don’t give everyone a show.”

They disappear through the doorway to the back storage area. Liam thinks about the black wolf that had chased him and Mason through the school all those weeks ago. When Theo walks out of the room about fifteen minutes later with a coyote on his heels, Liam’s worked himself up. “You were the wolf that chased me and Mason that one time!”

Theo smirks. “Yeah. I thought forcing you to out yourself in front of Mason would make him afraid of you and shove a wedge between you.” His laugh is self-deprecating. “Joke’s on me though, huh? He just took to knowledge of the supernatural like a duck to water. Dove right the fuck in.”

Liam wants to continue to be mad, but Malia noses her way into his space and forces him to scoot over so she can press herself up against Hayden. She presses her nose against Hayden’s belly and whines. Liam knows what she’s smelling; the metallic smell of the mercury and the sick smell of a body losing its fight against poison permeating the air.

Lydia leaves and takes Stiles with her. The rest of them doze and do their best to make sure Hayden is as comfortable as possible, eventually spreading blankets and a pillow onto the examination table for her. The sun is rising when Melissa finally makes it to the clinic. 

She tells Liam to move away from the table and starts pulling equipment from a refrigerated container that Scott had helped her unload from her car. 

“Okay, what's that?” Liam asks.

“It's called chelation therapy.” Melissa continues to work as she speaks. “It removes heavy metals from the blood. But, the problem is,” she pauses to look down at Hayden, “is that it can injure the kidneys, and Hayden only has one to begin with, so…” 

Melissa lifts Hayden’s hand to insert an IV. 

Liam grabs her wrist. “Hey, you're hurting her!”

Melissa stops and glares at him. “And  _ you're _ hurting  _ me.” _

Liam lets go and backs off even before Scott sends him a warning glare. “Sorry, Ms. McCall.”

“Hey guys?” Theo says, looking at Scott, a growl trailing his words. “Remember, we're here to save a life, not kill each other.”

Scott sucks in a deep breath. “It's the full moon. We can feel it, even during the day.” 

_ “And _ , it's a supermoon.” Theo clarifies.

“What, is that supposed to make you guys, like, super strong?” Melissa asks. “Super aggressive?”

“Both,” Scott answers.

“Maybe it’s best if we all back off and let Ms. McCall work,” Theo suggests.

“Thank you, Theo.” Melissa nods at them and then politely dismisses them.

Malia disappears into the storage room and emerges human and fully dressed. “I’m going to go check on Lydia and Stiles. I just- I can’t-”

“Go,” Scott urges her softly. “It’s okay. Do what you need to do.”

She nods and leaves the clinic.

Scott turns to Theo. “Thanks for helping with her last night.”

Theo shoves his hands into his pockets. “She and I have a lot more in common than our coyotes. More than she’d like to admit.”

“Well, I’m sure she was grateful for it last night. At least a little.”

Scott and Theo settle into a couple of the lobby chairs while Liam paces. He’s restless and his wolf won’t let him try to relax. Not while someone he cares about is in danger like this. His gums itch and his fingers twitch and he knows it’s the full moon getting to him, but he seeks out Theo’s scent and listens for the rumble of his voice and it’s easier for him to keep the wolf at bay.

He marvels a little at how the other boy could have come to mean so much to him in such a short amount of time, but it’s right there, swirling around in his chest. He’s watched Theo, watched him become a real person, not just some puppet for the Dread Doctors. And Liam genuinely likes the person he’s becoming. He’s an honest liar and an altruistic sinner. So full of contradictions and Liam wants to solve him like a puzzle.

A soft whimper stalls Liam’s thoughts and he steps back into the examination room. “It’s not working, is it?”

“She should be showing signs of improvement by now,” Melissa says, grabbing the girl’s hand. “Hayden?”

“Val.” Hayden says weakly. “Call Val. My sister… Valerie.”

“She’s a deputy,” Liam tells Melissa.

Scott and Theo come back into the room. “I can call Stiles and have him send her here.”

“Are you sure that’s what you want, Hayden?” Theo asks.

“I don’t want to die without my sister.”

“Okay, but remember, I can bring you right back with the serum if the treatment doesn’t work.” He pulls the green vial out of his pocket to show her. “Valerie never has to know you died if you don’t want her to know.”

Hayden sucks in a shaky breath. “You’ll stay?”

“Yeah, Hayden,” Theo hesitantly grabs her free hand. “We’ll all be here with you.”

“Okay… she doesn’t have to know.” Hayden closes her eyes and sighs.

Theo stays where he is, holding Hayden’s hand, looking down at it like it might break if he lets go. Liam smiles privately to himself and leaves to pace around the lobby some more before Melissa can kick him out again.

The hours tick by slowly as Melissa works on her, the boys taking turns talking to her and letting her know she’s not alone and that they’re doing everything they know to do. After the sun sets, Melissa draws some blood and seems dissatisfied by the results. She pushes up Hayden’s sleeve to reveal her spots that were once black were now a greenish grey.

“Oh, no, no, no,” Melissa whispers.

“It’s on her neck, too.” Liam moves Hayden’s hair to show her. “She’s getting worse, isn’t she?”

“Yeah,” Melissa nods, “Which is why we’re taking her to the hospital.”

“How is that going to help?”

“We’re in an animal clinic and I need equipment designed for humans.” Melissa grabs her jacket and slips it over her shoulders. “I said we’re going to take her to the hospital. I didn’t say we were going through the front doors.”

Liam grabs his own jacket and sees his forgotten phone under it. He picks it up to see a missed text from Mason.

**Mason: Hey, dude. Sorry about last night. I ended up with a weird headache and went home to pass out for 12 hours.**

Liam frowns at the time stamp. That was almost eight hours ago. He sighs and texts back.

**Liam: Things have been stressful af anyway. We’re headed to the hospital. Meet us there?**

**Mason: See you in a few**

Liam sighs again and tucks his phone into his pocket. “Mason’s going to meet us at the hospital.”

“Oh, good.” Melissa nods. “Tell him to go through the front doors and then to then call us in the waiting room. I have a list of things I’ll need him to grab and I’ll tell him where to get them from without being seen.”

Liam does as he’s told as Scott lifts Hayden up from the table. He tucks her into the back of Melissa’s car and sits with her while Melissa drives off toward the hospital. Liam and Theo take Theo’s truck. Once they’re on the road, Liam presses his hands to his eyes and sighs.

“She’s not going to make it is she?”

“Probably not, but Melissa is going to do whatever she can.” Theo looks over at him. “And if nothing works, then we’ll be there to bring her right back.”

Liam sucks in a deep breath and prays for the strength to ask for what he needs to ask. The words don’t come easily.

“Spit it out, Liam.” 

“What if- what if we didn’t bring her back right away?”

“What? You’ve almost bitten all of our heads off today over Hayden and now you don’t want to bring her back from the dead as soon as possible?” Theo looks at him like he’s grown another head.

“It’s not that, okay? It’s… I’ve been thinking about it. And if we wait until Parrish takes her, then we can follow him to the Nemeton and bring everyone back at once.” Liam bites his lip.

“That’s kinda cold, Liam.” Liam hangs his head. “I’m impressed.”

He snaps his head back toward Theo, scowling. “Seriously?”

“Yeah. And it’s not a bad idea.”

A relieved breath escapes Liam before he can stop it. He feels bad about using Hayden’s almost-certainly-to-be dead body as bait for Parrish, but it seems like the most logical course to take.

Melissa leads them to the east wing of the hospital and runs in to grab a wheelchair for Hayden to sit in while they find a private place for her to work. Mason calls while they’re in the elevator and Melissa walks him through the hospital to find the supplies she needs. They set up in the unfinished basement wing. Scott and Theo help lay Hayden on a proper hospital bed. Mason barrels into the room with his arms full. 

“Over here, yeah.” Melissa motions him toward the bed.

“Shouldn't we be talking to one of the doctors?” Mason says, handing her the things she asked for.

“I've been wrestling with that for  _ hours.” _ She sighs and keeps working. “Do we bring them in and watch them treat her as a normal patient while we stand here knowing that's not going to work? Or do we keep trying to do everything medically possible to save her while her body does things that shouldn't be medically possible?”

Mason finally gets a good look at Hayden. “Is she dying?”

Liam grits his teeth as Melissa answers. “With the amount of mercury in her body right now? She shouldn't even be  _ alive.” _

Theo lays a hand on Liam’s back and the beta leans into it. All of the waiting is just making it worse. 

Scott stands with his phone in his hand. “Everyone else is on the way here.”

“Parrish escaped from the cell. He melted the bars.” Stiles says as soon as he walks through the door ten minutes later with Lydia.

“The good news is, we finally know what he is.” Lydia crosses her arms.

“Hellhound.” Theo stares at her. “He’s a hellhound, right?”

“How did you know?” She asks him, eyeing him suspiciously.

“As soon as you said he melted the bars, it clicked. Brett said he smelled ash, when the Jeep got flipped, the last thing I remember seeing was Parrish’s face and fire.” Theo rubs his hand down his face. “Not to mention his connection to you, the Banshee. It all makes sense and I feel like an idiot for not figuring it out sooner. It also explains why the Dread Doctors didn’t tell me what he was.”

“Why would they do that?” Liam asks.

“There’s a legend surrounding their Beast. At the end, there’s supposed to be an epic battle between The Beast and The Hellhound. Whichever wins, decides the fate of the world.” Theo chuckles bitterly. “Or at the very least, the town.”

Malia walks through the door. “Great, just the news I wanted to hear when I walked in.”

“Where did you go?” Scott asks. “You said you were going to the sheriff’s station.”

“I went to the preserve instead. To run. It helped.” Malia insists. “I also made a decision, but I’ll tell you about it when one of our friends isn’t dying.”

The wait is long and draining. Everyone is on edge as Melissa tries one tactic after another and nothing seems to work as Hayden’s heartbeats start to slow. Liam climbs onto the bed with her and holds her to his chest, rocking her.

“It’s okay, Hayden. It’s okay. We’ve got you. We’re here for you. It’s okay to let go. We’ll be here when you get back. I swear it.” He continues to murmur reassurances in her ear until her breathing stops and her heart stills.

Liam shifts, clutching her to his chest and howls in anguish. The pack gathers around them and holds onto him as he gives into his grief. When he calms, they step away and Stiles says, “It’s okay, buddy. We’re bringing her back, remember. Theo, get over here.”

“Not yet.”

“Excuse me?”

Theo tucks his hands into his pocket. “I said: not yet.”

“Why?” Scott asks warily.

“Parrish is on his way. Let him take her. I can follow him, and bring back Hayden and the others at the same time.” 

“And you expect us to just allow you to do that on your own?” Malia snaps.

Liam sniffs and says, “I’ll go with him. It was my idea, anyway.”

“Liam,” Mason steps close again. “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure. As long as Parrish gets here soon, I’m sure.”

Not even fifteen minutes later, the hellhound walks through the door and everyone steps out of his way as he stops in front of Liam. Liam kisses the top of Hayden’s head and whispers, “Just a little longer.” 

Then, he opens his arms and lets Parrish take her away.


	15. Chapter 15

“Are we just going to walk after him the whole time?” Liam hisses lowly, his gaze flicking to the back of the hellhound in front of them. 

“As long as we aren’t in his way, he’s not going to hurt us.” Theo answers with a roll of his eyes. 

“Yeah.” Liam’s voice does something odd and Theo glances over to find baby blue eyes boring into his profile. “Besides, it’s not like you’d let anything happen to me.” There it is. Theo’s heart flips stupidly in his chest and discomfort pulls at the edges of his skin. But as much as he wants to run from this, he’s powerless when it comes to Liam. And judging from the slow smirk spreading, he fucking knows it. 

“Shut up,” Theo mutters without any real heat to it. Liam’s answering grin threatens to split his face. He thinks he’s in the clear when the beta doesn’t say anything else, but then Liam inhales and opens his mouth again. 

“Why?”

Waiting for further clarification, Theo checks their surroundings and scents the air. No threats in the area. He can’t taste the copper and rust of the Dread Doctors metal suits, nor sense their unnatural buzzing. The world is deadly calm in the preserve tonight, the spell broken only by the crackle of leaves beneath them. He reaches into his back pocket and touches the syringe, reassuring himself of the plan. Bring back the dead chimeras and-

“You can’t avoid the question, Theo.” His smile twitches as Liam whines and he shakes his head a little. 

“I wasn’t. Why what?” He asks softly. 

“Why have you been hellbent on protecting me? Why did the...tell me why they wanted  _ me _ when they could have just taken Hayden.” Theo’s chest seizes, blood turning to slush in his veins. “Theo?” Liam’s voice comes closer and Liam fingers curl around his own, squeezing lightly. “Still here. You’re here with me. You promised,” he says softly. 

“They took you because you…” Theo clamps his mouth shut and thins his lips. Why is this the hardest fucking thing in the world to say? Liam’s thumb circles his pulse, reminding him that he can be patient, and he tries to draw strength from it. He can do this. 

“I’m not a good person,” he starts because that feels as good a place as any. Liam’s mouth twists in protest, but thankfully he keeps his silence. “I’ve buried a lot of people, Liam. Lured them to their deaths. I started with my own sister and never stopped dragging down everyone I came into contact with. I stopped questioning why I was working with them and instead I became obedient. Their goddamn puppet for almost a decade. Escaping them was the furthest thing from my mind because I knew the second I stopped being useful, I would be as dead as the others. Then I heard about Scott and his pack. I craved power, Liam. I still do. That’s not just a switch I can turn on and off. But...my priorities shifted.”

He thinks back to the night when this all started. He’d considered killing Liam for spying on him and the Dread Doctors, knowing that blowing his cover would get him killed. And Liam hadn’t asked Scott to kill him or anything like that. Instead they’d invited him into a conversation, forcing him to evaluate the situation and choose which cards to play. He could have killed them all. He knew their schedules, knew where to hit them where it had the most impact, and could have gone underground with no one the wiser. But he’d chosen to stay. He’d decided to risk it all for the safety and promise of a pack. 

That promise had slipped further and further from his grasp. He’d always known, deep down, that he wouldn’t be a welcome member. His views were too extreme, too different from Scott’s. Theo couldn’t be trusted. His honesty came in convenient doses at the most opportune moments, but he kept his cards clutched tight to his chest. From killing Josh to telling the truth about his sister to Stiles, he’d sealed his fate to residing outside of the pack. But he’d stayed. And they both knew why. 

Slowing to a halt, Theo turns toward Liam and regards him in the moonlight. He looks solemn, holding his breath as he waits for Theo’s answer. But there’s a hope in those baby blues that threatens to knock Theo flat on his back. He’s never had someone put so much blind faith and trust in him. He could stab Liam in the back and run, revive his chimeras and leave, and the pack wouldn’t be any wiser. But they all knew the truth. The one he still refuses to admit to himself. 

“Say it,” Liam whispers when Theo can’t get his mouth unstuck. But he can’t. He shakes his head and Liam’s expression falls. As his head starts to lower, Theo closes the gap between them and they’re standing chest to chest. 

“I can’t,” he says because it’s true. He doesn’t know what’s the right thing to say in this situation. All he knows is that he can’t lose this. Not when he’s so close. So he offers a different promise instead. 

Dipping his head, his lips brush slowly across Liam’s as he tests the waters. The blue-eyed boy draws in a shuddering breath and then he kisses back, all fire and passion and tongues and teeth. Theo clutches at him, nails blindly scrabbling for purchase in his arms, and strong fingers curl in the back of his shirt. Scott was wrong. He’s not Liam’s anchor - Liam is  _ his.  _

His eyes shut of their own accord, mouth molding to the shape of the one beneath his, and he feels their hearts beating wildly together.  _ I’m not dreaming.  _ The thought startles him and he pulls back, panting as he presses his forehead to Liam’s. The beta’s soft whine makes him quiver and a nose presses to his, whiffing softly. Tangling his fingers in the back of Liam’s hair, he guides his head further down and shivers as the nose skins over the column of his throat. Liam scents him for a moment, lips and tongue trailing over his skin. As he feels the hint of fangs against his throat, he forces Liam’s head back and flares his eyes. Brighter gold burn up at him, stealing his breath away. 

“I care,” he croaks out. “I care about you and it scares the absolute shit out of me.” With those words, every wall that he’s been building up start to crumble. Liam tears them down with kiss after kiss, greedily snatching them from Theo’s willing lips. He lets the other boy drink him in and for once, he doesn’t think about what could go wrong. 

When they part again for air, Theo licks his lips and puts a few inches of space between them. “They took you because they knew you were the one thing I cared about. And that scares them. I’m not their puppet anymore. And I haven’t been for a long time because of you. If you hadn’t stumbled outside and listened to us talk...if you hadn’t gone to Scott...I’d still be trapped in the dark.”

“You  _ chose _ to leave them. You chose to keep helping us with your life at risk. Maybe you can’t see the good in you, but I do. Scott does. Stiles is starting to. We’ve all made bad choices, Theo. And you were dealt a shitty hand. You were manipulated your entire life by people that would kill you without a second thought. Of course you’d do whatever it took to survive. The fact that you decided enough was enough and walked away? That tells me you aren’t a bad person.” Liam speaks with such conviction that it makes Theo’s heart ache. He wishes he saw himself that way. But if Liam does, then maybe there’s something to what he’s saying. Liam’s got a pure heart and a good head on his shoulders. 

“I’ve still got a long way to go,” Theo says instead of arguing. “I don’t know what the fuck that means, but I want to try.”

“Together.” Liam’s fingers tangle with his own and he breathes easier.  _ Together.  _

“Come on, pup.” He tries to shake the moment away with a quiet laugh, but the spell around them doesn’t seem to break. “We’ve got chimeras to bring back.”

“Shit!” Eyes widening, Liam spins away from him to look for Parrish. They don’t have to look very far. 

The Nemeton is just a few yards away, bathed in blood and the light of a full moon. Parrish is sitting in the middle of it, his eyes glowing orange. He’s not looking at them. As they step closer, Theo feels the hum of power emanating from the tree stump and he bows his head a little. He can only imagine what it would have been like were the tree fully grown. 

Hayden’s body is laid out across Corey’s lap, one hand stretched out toward them as though she’s calling for help. Josh is sitting up against the trunk, his head dropped down against his chest with vacant eyes staring at the ground. And Tracy is at his feet, her body twisted in unnatural ways. 

“How will this work?” Liam asks while Theo kneels down, pulling the vial from his back pocket. 

“I need you to step back.” He says without looking up. 

“But-“

“They were extremely volatile when they died. If they come back in that state and hurt you, I won’t be able to stop myself from killing them.”  _ A second time,  _ he thinks as his gaze flicks over Josh. 

“Oh.” Liam doesn’t argue after that and takes a few steps away. Uncapping the syringe, Theo hovers over Tracy and takes a deep breath. 

“Here goes nothing.” He plunges it into her neck and empties a quarter of the liquid. As her eyes start to flutter, he moves on to Corey. Each chimera jerks awake, their hands flying to the spot where they’d been fatally injured. Electric purple eyes meet his and he lifts his hands in surrender, the syringe dropping from his fingertips. 

“You,” Josh snarls at him. The raiju chimera shifts forward and behind them, Liam growls in warning. 

“I know. But you were going to kill Stiles and you weren’t going to stop. Do you remember that?” He asks slowly. 

“I was…” Josh’s brow furrows and Theo tilts his head. 

“Hungry?” He guesses. The other boy frowns. 

“No. I was trying to get high...it wasn’t working. Snuck down to the basement to smoke and that’s kind of all I remember. Blurs after that.”

“What the hell is going on?” Tracy asks as she uncurls, swaying onto her feet. “Where are...oh my god…” Theo follows her gaze to the bodies scattered around them and he grimaces. Parrish doesn’t move. 

“We can answer all of your questions, but we need to get out of here.” Theo says, risking a glance at the hellhound. He doesn’t know if Parrish is communing with the Nemeton or not, but he doesn’t want to find out. 

“And why should we go with you? I don’t even know you,” Tracy sneers. Theo suppresses a frustrated snarl and reminds himself that their memories are all jumbled up. 

“I just brought you back from the dead.” Theo says while rising to his feet. He offers a hand to Josh and helps him up, turning to look for Hayden and Corey. They’re both already joining Liam, hugging him and asking how long they’ve been gone. “You don’t have any reason to trust me, but I brought you back. I know what you are and I can help you control it. Just come back with us and we can figure things out.” He doesn’t have much else to offer, but Josh and Tracy exchange looks for a long moment. Finally, Josh nods. 

“All right,” he says. “But can we get something to eat? I’m fucking starving.”

“I’ll call Scott and ask him to order pizzas.” Liam assures. Theo turns to smile at him, catching his gaze. He’s got no fucking clue what’s coming next, but he knows that he’s not alone anymore. He may not have the pack that he’d first envisioned upon arriving to Beacon Hills, but he’s got something better. There’s a blue-eyed boy with kindness in his eyes and lips made for Theo’s. He doesn’t have to be afraid anymore. Because now? He’s got allies. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Kudos and comments keep us going! <3


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